The Ferndale Parade was typical small town. Pony carts decorated with red, white and blue streamers, fire engines, horses, clowns and more. The weather was low overcast as usual here on the North Coast of CA until just before the parade began....then the clouds parted and the sun shown brightly. I even got some pink on my face.
We saw this guy waiting to join the parade. He was in his front yard while the floats were lining up. I think he just decided to go. Sydney loved his little dog in the front basket.
Here we are on our float...there were 10 or so accordions belting out "God Bless America," "It's a Grand Old Flag" and "This Land is Your Land." By the end Syd knew most of the words. I must admit I don't like the "rolls" that show on me....I should have sat up straighter (or lost 50 lbs!) but can you tell Mr. Scottie Dog, Sydney and I are having a good time? We are sitting on covered hay bales and leave it to MacGyver, oops, Mr. Dog, Sydney had a seat belt and everything...after all, safety first!
Just about the end of the parade, Sydney leans over to me and says, "Grandma, I LOVE riding in parades." She waved her flag and waved for about an hour straight.
When the parade had ended and our float driven back to the Fair Grounds Grandma brought out the picnic lunch. Liz and Steve found us, Grandpa bar-b-qued the chicken and we ate while Sydney ran round and round on the grass. Back home for naps. The fog rolled back in.
At 9 pm we went to Liz's and set off a box of fireworks Mr. Dog had bought. We also found some 15 year old sparklers...the kind they don't sell in CA any more and set them off with a propane torch. Sydney was frightened. She finally went inside and watched (blubbering the whole time) the show. 9:45 and we drove down to the waterfront to see the big Eureka City show. As per most years we saw some pretty red fog, green fog and occasionally the bottoms of some of the fireworks. There were so many illegal "big" fireworks going off though, below the clouds of fog so we got to see some pretty neat stuff too. Here Sydney declared she LOVED fireworks. I guess when you are 4 it's OK to be fickle.
That was our 4th of July...what did YOU do?
5 comments:
What a super photo of Sidney in her dress waving a flag! We were totally bah-humbug about the fireworks. I knew with the low clouds we wouldn't be able to see the waterfront show from our upstairs window. We did take the kids to old town during the day, but as usually happens, I wondered aloud to John, "WHY did we come down here?" See, told ya; bah HUMBUG!
:-)
We ended up bbq-ing at home. It rained all day and I didn't want to take the kids to a soggy park. And since we saw a marvelous firework display last week (at Savage's "Dan Patch Days"), we put the kids to bed on time and stayed home with some friends. I ended up seeing quite a few "big" fireworks in the sky from my couch and we heard the booming of the neighbor's fireworks all evening.
-beka
We got together with all 3 daughters and all 4 grandchildren for the Eureka Old town street fair. It was chilly, but the kids loved the mini carnival with a few rides and all the kids, grown-up ones included, liked the tall wavy super slide. After a Mexican dinner together we watched the fireworks from the boardwalk along the bay, but were disappointed that we couldn't do our own. Outlawed from 4th street to the water now. Too bad. But the little ones loved the fireworks in the sky, and have to admit, I never get too old for those myself!
Wow, you had a full day! I love the 3-hour dress and especially love the photo of Sydney being exuberant in it. As for the rolls, WHO CARES? I know what you mean about seeing photos of oneself, but that is NOT what other people think of when they see you. They see your love and generosity and all your wonderfulness. (I'm working on attaining the Who Cares attitude for myself.)
Love your photos and the little dress you made! We spent our 4th of July at a special church meeting and had a traditional hot dog dinner with fireworks. Thanks for sharing.
Alice Cooksey
Lone Star House of Quilts
Arlington, TX
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