We packed up the kids and dogs and our company and headed for the wilds of Woolley. Tobias had never seen anything like it; either had Dani or Chris, apparently. We gave a bag to Tobias to collect all the candy that is tossed into the crowd, but he decided he didn’t want to go chasing after it, as Kaleb has the whole routine down and usually clears an entire area before even the littlest of kids get one piece. It’s all about the process of getting it for him, not so much in eating it. Tobias just sat back and watched the show – both the parade of people and the scampering of children trying to get every piece of candy they could.
There wasn’t a single “float” in the parade this year. It was more like one big info-mercial with every business and politician in town paraded themselves down the street. Dani thought it was pretty despicable that a professional counselor was walking around handing out her business cards and zeroing in on people, telling them she specialized in drug and alcohol addictions. Like, what are they supposed to think after that encounter? No one wrote the rules on what is tactful, I guess, so anything goes. Chris was totally offended that a group of Mexicans were only flying their national flag on the back of their truck, dancing and blaring Mexican music. He turned his back to show his disgust with their lack of respect for our Independence Day. Tobias just thought the whole thing was crazy, and pretty dumb, but he’s glad he got to experience it. One local race car driver walked up to him and handed him an autographed photo of his race car, which Tobias will see next Saturday night when the boys all go to the races. He can now add that to his collection of car memorabilia he’s been collecting here in America. His bedroom walls back in Norway are pretty bare, but they soon will be populated with memories from this summer.
All the restaurants in town were packed after the parade, so we headed to Burlington to have Mexican food (of all things) for lunch. Tobias loves Mexican food and there are plenty of restaurants around here to keep him happy. Kory then took Tobias to a real American rodeo for the afternoon, while Chris took Kaleb and the dogs home, and Dani and I went shopping. It’s wasn’t the typical 4th of July we’re used to, but nothing seems normal anymore. Tobias loved the rodeo, even though it rained a little on them while they were sitting in the stands. He said it was just like he sees on TV, so it was good that experience didn’t disappoint him.
We at least ended the day with a 4th of July BBQ, even if we did have to eat it inside because of the weather. We bought a new stone patio table before we left for Norway and we needed help from everyone to set it up as it was so heavy, but we didn’t get to initiate it tonight because it was so darn cold outside. Hard to believe it’s July with the wind blowing and rain threatening to ruin even the best laid plans for this day.
The boys lit off a few fireworks before we headed into town tonight to see the LaConner show. We watched the Indian reservation across the channel blow off non-stop fireworks for at least an hour before LaConner’s show got going. We thought it would start around ten, but it didn’t get going until after 10:30. We were all freezing as the wind was so cold and we didn’t bring blankets, so we decided not to wait any longer and go home. Just as we got in the car, they started, so we all sat in the car and watched through the window with the engine running so we had heat to defrost our bones. It was a little odd, but the fireworks didn’t disappoint. I’m just glad this day is over so I don’t have to see Kory wearing his “clown” outfit anymore (see photo).
No comments:
Post a Comment