A whole lot of sparklers

We actually did celebrate the Fourth of July. It has just taken me forever to get around and actually post anything. But since I have two hours before my next shift starts, I thought this would be perfect.

I actually had the Fourth of July off! For a new intern, this is a historic event!

The weather has been nice and mild for the last 10 days or so. But July 4th, we wake up to a heavy drizzle.

The rain wasn't heavy, there was no wind, and the temperature was nice, so we decided to set out and see if Iowans still have parades, even in bad weather.

Turns out they do.

The streets were lined with people. Guess a little rain doesn't stop anything here. As we were looking around, we noticed that all the other children had bags and trick-or-treat buckets. And as the parade started, those bags sure filled up fast with candy, popsicles, bottled water, and beads. Our boys didn't have bags, but we still left with more candy then they got last Halloween. Next year, we'll remember to take treat bags.

When the boys were drenched to their skin, we headed home.

We spent the rest of the day warming up over big bowls of popcorn.

As the evening came, the rain stopped and we enjoyed sparklers in the backyard.




(We would have done other fireworks, but sparklers were the only ones we could find for sale here. Much different than Utah, where every parking lot boasts its own firework stand.)

I was only going to post one video, but I thought that these were both so cute, I couldn't decide which one. So you get both. And sorry for the awful quality. I am still trying to figure out how to post videos from my real video camera.





After Roman and Blaise had gone through neary a dozen boxes (all without a single burn!) we went to watch fireworks.

The fireworks were being set off from a local park, and we watched them from a school field across the street. The field was full, but not crowded. There were kids running everywhere, bedecked with glow bracelets and necklaces, shrieking with laughter. Fireflies even flitted through the field. Families were sprawled out on blankets.

Everything was so relaxed, and low key, and so small town feeling. It was perfect. It felt like home.

I'm never sure how my boys will react to fireworks. Sometimes they like them, sometimes they don't.

Roman kept asking if we were going to get hit by a firework. Blaise kept asking if we were done. Between fielding those questions and "helping" Roman cover his ears from the loudest booms, there were plenty of "oooh"s and "aw"s.

We enjoyed our small town Midwestern holiday. Much slower paced than the typical holiday in Salt Lake City, but in so many ways, much more our pace.