independence day

We met up with Adrian, Abby, Linus, Chelsea & Jonathan on the morning of the 4th to participate in the Children's Independence Day Parade in Durham. It was a hot and muggy morning, but the kids and parents were there in droves. Ben Franklin was there, too, leading the festivities (bless that poor man who had to wear that costume on such a sweaty day).The starting point was the Farmer's Market pavilion where The Scrap Exchange had provided lots of red, white and blue materials to gussy up bikes, trikes, strollers, wagons... whatever you deemed needed decoration. After everthing was beautified and patriotized, the kids (and their keepers) were sent along the parade route that wound around the block and through Durham's Central Park and back to the starting point. Abby brought along a battery-operated bubble blower and that made our wagon the hippest little float in the whole proceeding!

The parade route wasn't a long distance to walk, but we were all rewarded at the end of our journey with frozen lemonade pops. The fire department also brought along one of their engines with a water cannon mounted on top and created a huge spray of water for the kids, big and small, to play in and cool off.


After the parade, we headed off to the festivities at the Little's family gathering -- thanks for including us, Zack & Fer! We swam, we ate, we played Kubb -- it was great! After this action-packed day, bedtime came early for all three of us and we missed out on the fireworks this year.