What a day we had! You know how 4th of July celebrations are always depicted in movies: barefoot kids, blowing bubbles, eating ice cream that never drips on their pristine outfits, running past in slow motion giggling . . . parents mingling nearby, having cocktails, unconcerned with the well being of the children because they live in fantasy land and nothing bad happens there . . . .? Well, put on your moccasins and take a trip with me to the land of Far, Far Away.
Our very sweet neighbor Andrea invited us to spend the 4th of July with her family at her sister’s farm. For the past few years Andrea's sister and her husband have hosted their town's 4th of July celebration. This year it was a potluck. I made Jeff’s favorite pasta salad and melon ball fruit salad using the hollowed out watermelon as a bowl. (Don’t be so surprised – I didn’t give myself the title of Supermom for nothing.)
When we arrived at the farm the girls found the other kids right away and ran off to play. Andrea’s family was gathered under a stately maple tree chatting and welcomed us graciously. We spent the afternoon visiting and sipping strawberry mojitos. Later Jeff joined in a game of volleyball and, having brought my face painting gear, I decorated all the children – some more than once. Before long it was time for dinner. Apparently everyone in this little town has been trained by Gordon Ramsey – or maybe I had one too many mojitos - but everything was terrific!
As dusk approached Andrea pulled out a huge bag of light up bracelets and necklaces. All the kids were glowing as we prepared to watch the fireworks, then they lit up some sparklers. It was a cool evening so we snuggled up with a blanket to watch the show. The fireworks display was fantastic; made even better because we were so close.
At the end of the night we threw all our gear in the Sequoia and ventured home – it took ten minutes. There was no traffic, no policemen, no cones or barricades. Just open cornfields. I’d like to post some photos of the day to show you, but that’s the only problem with visiting a fairy tale- the pictures never come out. Okay actually we were just having so much fun taking pictures just didn’t seem important. I did manage to snap these two early in the day:
Here is Kate with her Firecracker hairstyle.
And here is Kate on the tire swing
made to look like a horse.
I know . . . it really was a fairy tale day.
The End
Time to leave Far, Far Away and get back to work!
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