Happy 4th to all Americans out there. Belated, that is.
Today (yesterday, in case you’re confused) we celebrated our first American Independence Day in years with that quintessential American activity–shopping.
We rarely go to the mall and when we do, I’m always surprised at how many other people have had the same idea. I’ll think, “Oh it’s a lovely sunny weekend. No one will be there! We’ll have the place to ourselves and we’ll just duck into the Lego store and pick up Abel’s birthday present in 2 minutes!” And then we spend 45 minutes just looking for parking. So I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised.
We started out with a patriotic breakfast. I mixed blueberries and raspberries (hand-picked! Fresh!) in a bowl and put them on the table next to a bowl of powdered sugar and voila! Red, white and blue means a perfect 4th of July breakfast. We had French toast, or Freedom toast as I proudly called it (don’t choke; I really did call it that but it went right over the kids‘ heads and Donn just rolled his eyes at me) and then we spent most of breakfast discussing French history, as it turned out. Don’t worry–for July 14th we’ll have the same breakfast and then we’ll discuss the American Revolution.
It was up to Ilsa, however, and her fiddly little personality to make it a truly Patriotic breakfast.
Isn’t she great, folks?
She also needed a new swimsuit for camp. “Do you think Target is open today?” I asked Donn. “I don’t know,” he said. I decided they probably were–after all, what‘s more American than trying to make a buck? And I was right. Not only was Target open, EVERYBODY was open, except for banks and of course no mail.
In the evening, we went to a barbecue with friends who live out in the country. They promised some good fireworks. “Our neighbour is a pyromaniac,” they told me. So we went to celebrate our independence in the American way–loud explosions and bright colours!
They live out in rural Oregon, a place of sun-drenched vines and orchards rolling off into the distance, of textured, verdant hills. They live on an acre or two, with huge trees and inviting lawns and a cosy, light-filled home. And they were right–their neighbour goes waay beyond your typical neighbourhood pyromaniac. At dusk, we took our chairs out back, where we had an uninterrupted view across a yard to a really impressive display of enormous fireworks. It was at least as big as most city displays, and it went on and on and on. Fantastic! It really was a perfect way to spend a 4th of July evening; tables groaning under the weight of all this really good food (including mounds of local fresh berries and cherries), good company, and really loud noises accompanied by pretty lights.
Of course I forgot my camera. I couldn’t believe it. Also, Donn “the Photographer” was similarly unarmed. You will just have to imagine it; the kids shivering in the slip’n’slide, the badminton birdie getting stuck in the branches of the tall, tall oak, the sheer volume of my children as they ran through the late afternoon light, the bursts of red, white, orange, purple and green against the velvety black, so bright that we cast shadows in their brief glare, the will-o-the-wisp motion of children running with glow sticks in the deep shadows under the trees. Perfect.
10 comments
July 5, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Nan
I love the slip ‘n’ slide shiverers. Did they say “We’re not cold!” While they shivered? Blue lips and all?
July 6, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Pieces
It does sound perfect. We stopped at a grocery store and I couldn’t believe the number of people that were shopping. And I was worried we wouldn’t find a place that was open.
And I would have laughed at your freedom toast joke.
July 6, 2008 at 5:30 pm
LIB
Sounds like a perfect day!
I love that patriotic French (Freedom) toast.
July 7, 2008 at 8:27 am
poppy fields
Happy Fourth of July!
July 7, 2008 at 8:37 am
Rebecca
That is a GORGEOUS breakfast.
Do you put dish soap on your slip and slide? A visiting child told us that trick and it makes my kids slip at LIGHTENING speed. Broken limbs, here we come!
July 7, 2008 at 8:47 am
Shalee
I think your Freedom Toast was awesome! (I had a crepe, so at least we were along the same line.)
Oh, and we went to one of the huge furniture stores hoping for a great sale on things for the new house. It was closed. Torn between disappointment that it was closed and elation that a huge store showed respect for this day, I decided that the shopping could wait as my fellow citizens were allowed to celebrate our independence. (I returned the next day and we found some truly wonderful sales. Yay!)
July 7, 2008 at 12:56 pm
planetnomad
Nan–Yes they did 🙂 It was pretty funny. One of the best moments was when Elliot decided to try it standing up, and of course totally wiped out. Slapstick humour is still funny in this day and age, in case you were wondering.
July 8, 2008 at 12:32 pm
All Rileyed Up
Sounds lovely. No pictures needed. I hope you finished off the fireworks with a rousing rendition of Le Marseillaise.
July 8, 2008 at 11:25 pm
AlphaDogma
As for the mall-appeal: it’s got to be the air-conditioning. I’ve sat through some crappy movies just so I could enjoy the air conditioning at the movie theatres.
That pancake looks lovely.
August 13, 2008 at 3:52 am
بنات
soo fun
awesome day