Friday, July 4, 2008

Red, White and Black and Blue

Poor Bennett.  We went to the Ames Fourth of July Parade today and he decided that his forehead and nose were not scraped up enough.  He did a face dive into the street while trying to get out of a chair.  My dad and I watched him go down and there was nothing we could do.  He let out the initial scream and then didn't breath for almost 10 seconds.  I first noticed his non-breathing technique of dealing with pain when he got his first set of vaccines.  I had to breath into his face to get him to breath again.  Poor little bruiser.

The parade was a lot of fun.  It started at 11:00 am an we got there at 10:25 am or so and almost every space was filled.  I couldn't venture to guess how many people were there and what time they started showing up!  We finally found a spot and of course it was next to a bunch of 7 & 8 year old boys.  My dad finally grabbed Bennett and went out to stand next to Harrison to run interference.  The boys kept coming over and grabbing all of the candy!  It's not like we need the candy but Harrison wasn't getting to pick anything up because the older boys would grab it.  Dad gave a strong arm and that kept them at bay for most of the parade.  After the parade we went to Band Shell Park and grabbed some food.  I got to have a gyro from the stand that we always ate at after going to the bars in college.  Mmmmm.  Mom waited in line for walking tacos for herself and Chris for almost 30 minutes.  Right when she got there to place her order, they ran out of cooked meat!  She had to wait for them to cook more.  What an ordeal!

Christopher's parents came for a visit that evening.  We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and then Christopher went off to work.  Greg, Pam, the boys and I cooked marshmallows and then went to see fireworks over at Raccoon River Park.  We thought we would be smarter than most and stop short of the park on this hill where some others were setting up.  This turned out to be an ok idea.  We got to see the high fireworks but not the ones that were low.  They ended up behind a carefully placed row of trees.  Harrison kept saying 'Please, please go high - YEAH - that one was high!' and Bennett started mimicking us by going 'ommmm' whenever he would saw something that he liked.  It was adorable.  

It was a very nice Fourth of July.  I even read the Declaration of Independence that was actually written on July 2nd and not signed by everyone until around July 8th.  Also - did you know the 1st Fourth of July was celebrated on July 4th because Congress forgot to celebrate it on July 2nd.  Too funny!

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