Independence Day

I love the Fourth of July. It is a time for family, friends and patriotism. As I learn more about the Declaration of Independence and the brillance of our Founding Fathers, it has deeper meaning for me. It is also a day of tradition for our family. This year it started a day early since all of our government employees had the 3rd of July off. After yard work and a few other errands our family gathered at Dale's house for swimming and taco salad. What fun! Karen and family stayed behind to spend the night with them.

On the Fourth we began by attending the Beltsville/College Park Ward Breakfast and Flag Raising. Craig Schmoldt has been in charge of the kitchen for many years now. Cal and I almost always end up cooking and mostly with the same people who do it every year. This year we were in charge of the orange/craisin pancakes. I wasn't expecting them to taste as good as they did. The cub scouts did a better than usual job on the flag raising, reminding me of the old days when Mark or Blaine McGraw would organize a military-like performance. There was a lot of red, white and blue on the tables and worn by all the breakfast eaters. It is great to start the day listening to and singing patriotic songs.

In the late afternoon we hosted a barbeque. Helen came over early to help out. THANKS. All of our family was there and it is growing. Hint: Stephen and Wendy kind of announced they will be responsible for the next addition. Right now we have 12 adults and 15 1/9 children. Usually we are fighting a thunderstorm or the heat and humidity our area is well known for. This year the temperature was warm, but not hot and it was dry (maybe not for the Arizonians, but for the rest of us it was). I didn't have my camera out as much as I should have but here are a few shots. Spencer and Chrissy Edwards stopped by on their way from the airport (a 22 hour trip from Thailand) to her parents house in Pasadena. Kara is standing opposite Shawn at the food table. Many thanks to friends who used all of our cameras to take an amazing number of pictures once we herded the whole family to one spot. We are grouped by family, kind of. It took several tries to have everyone looking in the right direction. Aren't we a handsome bunch?? Oh yes, Shawn is now officially taller than his mother.The next activity is at the University of Maryland parking lot. We were joined by more friends and some of the kids enjoyed the games and we all listened to the Hubcaps doing a great job singing oldies. This year Alison brought a lot of glow bracelets that were a big hit (and we could see where the kids were, most of the time). The fireworks were amazing but a little frightening. The cinders and debris poured down on us due to a slight breeze. We were all covered in grit and some of the kids were hustling around gathering large pieces of debris that fell to the ground. It was not hard to find. No injuries to report (most of the debris had cooled before it reached the ground).