We decided to have a 4th of July party so we passed out flyers to all the houses on our block, rented an inflatable water slide, and bought 200 hamburgers and hot dogs. Then we left the rest up to our neighborhood and ultimately God. Seventy-two people showed up. Yay, neighbors! And it was the first day in over a week that it didn't rain. Yay, God!
As we were assembling to start the parade a neighbor we hadn't met pulled up in a beautiful, classic red mustang to lead us around the block. He popped a patriotic CD into his radio and off we went.
Some folks decided to document the event rather than take part in it. We'll have to meet this patriotic fellow and get a copy of his video.
As soon as we reached our house again, the kiddos shed their parade wear and jumped on the main attraction.
We hired two homeschool kids to be slide monitors for the day. Ben was especially happy with this one.
Later we passed out prizes to the best paraders, as determined by some impartial judges. These three from the same family won second, third, and most spirited.
Jonah won first place - movie tickets - for the great job he did on his bike decoration.
It was nice to be able to reward our guests for the effort they put into making this party a success. Next year, though, we really should have a prize for the cutest.
One little girl took it upon herself to set up a face-painting station on our patio. She drew quite a crowd.
One little girl took it upon herself to set up a face-painting station on our patio. She drew quite a crowd.
And don't forget the food. Most people brought something to contribute to the cookout so there was plenty of that. The goody table was never empty, even with Ben's perpetual desire for just one more cupcake.
Most of the day was spent simply hanging out with friends and neighbors.
Some folks cooled off inside.
And others in the pool.
Some folks cooled off inside.And others in the pool.
The party wrapped up around sundown but some of our neighbors came back later to shoot off fireworks.
At the end of the day, we had met twenty new people and John invited some of the men into a leadership class to begin soon.
Here's a quick video of the day's events:
