We try to get to a parade for the Fourth of July each year, but this year we just couldn’t find one in Washington. It was probably better that way. The Primary group from church was going to be in our hometown parade and the boys were a bit sad to be missing it. Ricky informed us that “It is the only parade I’ll ever get to be in and I’m missing it!” And to look at his sad little eyes, I almost believed it was the only chance he’d ever get. I guess we’ll just have to make sure he gets to be in a parade someday.
We did, however, find the Freedom Festival to attend. It is a street fair all along the waterfront in Tacoma. There were booths and food, a car show and an air show.
We didn’t stay for the air show, but we did find a shady bench to watch the planes warming-up for the air show. Perhaps not as spectacular, but much less crowded.
The boys loved watching the planes do spins and flips and hang in mid-air. Rusty was excellent at pointing and saying “airplane!”
One pilot’s specialty was singing while he did his stunts. His warm-up performance was to sing “The Star Spangled Banner.” We taught the boys about standing up for the national anthem and inspired a few people around us to do the same. His singing wasn’t bad and neither was his flying!
We walked along and just enjoyed looking at people and booths and the water. Billy was the first to notice a special boat dry docked. He said, “Fireboat! I’ve never seen a real live fireboat before!” I don’t think I had either.
The boys walked up and touched it like it was a treasure.
Not far from the fireboat were a couple of fire engines. The boys were invited to climb on in and sit in the captain’s seat.
Ricky shook hands with Captain Bruce and then the Captain let Ricky sit in a really special seat. As Ricky explains it, “You buckle the seat to you and then when you get out, the seat goes with you. You don’t even have to undo the seatbelt!”
Before starting the long walk back to the car, we stopped for ice cream snacks. The boys could choose whatever they wanted … and they both wanted to eat SpongeBob!
We sat on the edge of the sidewalk and looked out at the water.
Being so close to the water made it easy when it was time to wash our hands …
Ricky wasn’t so interested in getting his toes wet … he preferred to stay on the rocks. Billy didn’t really like sticking his hands in the water … he acted like something was going to come out and grab him. Rusty loved it … he kept trying to pull me farther and farther into the water!
I was just enjoying the whole day!
We had opted to pay extra for a closer parking spot. It was still a long walk to the car, so we were thankful for our wisdom. We were even more thankful that we’d come early as we passed about 2 miles of cars parked and waiting to get in for the air show. It would have been nice to stay, but we had other things going.
Like Cousin Grant’s baptism.
The vacation house had a pond out front and Kevin’s brother Marc’s son decided he wanted to be baptized there. His birthday was in April.
It was the first baptism Ricky had seen and, while he didn’t ask a lot of questions, you could see him thinking about it. He’ll have the chance to be baptized a member of our church next year when he is 8 and I think he was very aware of that.
There was a little meeting held in the inside basketball court for the occasion, with cookies afterward.
Grandpa Dick and Grandma Evelyn (Kevin’s grandparents) came for the event and stayed for dinner. They are very neat people. The boys really enjoy Grandpa Dick. Ricky is a little leary because three years ago Grandpa tied his toy cat’s tail in a knot, but he is good with Grandpa now. Rusty and Grandpa had a tickle match and I’m still not sure who won … both were laughing so much!
Other fun of the day included hamburgers for dinner (and a lot of smoke in the house from the stove), a BINGO game for all the kids, and a lot of visiting with family. It was a good Independence Day!