I Love America 2024

 The Fourth of July is the BEST!  I loved every minute of it.  

And there were a LOT of minutes of it.

The day started bright and early at 6:30 am at the city's flag-raising ceremony.  The Riverton High School Madrigals (including Cannon) sang the National Anthem.  Here is the link if you'd like to give it a listen.  I thought it was quite lovely. 

Bethany and Greta played a lovely duet of America the Beautiful.  Here's the link to part of it.

Ben's parents, and fellow Rivertonians, were there as well.  They are wonderful!

Twinning with Miss Riverton

George was a little beat up from the tumble he took off his friend's electric scooter the night before.  Oops.

Here we are just before the chuckwagon breakfast.  We have chuckled for years about George never looking directly at the camera for pictures-- always off to the side.  I guess old habits die hard.

Next up-- the City's cornhole tournament.  

I wish I could say we won... we didn't.

I wish I could say at least I played well... I didn't.

I wish I could say I was worthy of my partner... I wasn't.

Faith, however, was brilliant.  She played the best I've ever seen her play.  Spectacular.  I was so proud of her.  I was sore ashamed of myself.  It remains to be seen if she will ever play with me again.

Faith busted out her Rex-Kwan-Do pants from Halloween a couple years ago.

A little Bingo in the afternoon, along with our neighbor, Sarah.  The three on the left all won.

Off to go on a ride at the carnival

The swings were my favorite ride as a kid.  

Poor Greta was rather upset after the ride-- I guess the height and speed were a little more than she had anticipated.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture of our three youngest.  

Poor Abe got stung (twice!) by hornets when he accidentally disturbed their nest up in a lamp post. He was trying to get access to a power outlet, so we could charge devices while we hung out at the park.

Later in the day, Abe decided the hornets had to go. Was it retaliation?  A public service for the other park patrons?  Who's to say?  Cannon was Abe's faithful sidekick.

They were victorious!

In my own personal opinion, the children's haystack dive is the stupidest of all the city's celebratory activities.  That may sound harsh... you be the judge.

At 3:00, in the hottest heat of the day, the city people throw a bunch of candy/coins/trinkets onto a tarp covered with wood shavings.  They say "Go!" and the children turn feral and collect as many "treasures" as they can get.  In this picture, you can clearly see Greta appearing to climb over the other children.  One of those "other children" is Peter-- you can see his red vans against Greta's calf.  Respect, Greta, respect.  

We joined the Schramms for dinner in their backyard.  And this plate of food seriously almost brought me to tears.  Pulled pork, watermelon, corn-on-the-cob, and my very most favorite salad-- Camille's famous 7-layer salad.  SO GOOD!

The return of the Fox vs. Schramm football rivalry.  

Schramms were victorious this go-round.

Then we all went back over to the park for the fireworks show

 

I'm not usually a fan of taking pictures of fireworks, because they never really capture the majesty.  These pictures are no exception to that rule.

However, I made an exception during this show- and did take pictures. Because it was so impressive that I wanted a photo to remind me of the moment.  Perhaps the best fireworks show I've ever seen. We just yelled and cheered and were delighted when, after what appeared to be the climax at the end, the show continued for another ten minutes.  And we like to set up as near to the front as possible so we can just lay on our backs and look up.  It made me feel so grateful to live in America, and so grateful to live in a world with fireworks shows in the summer to enjoy with your family and friends.