4th of July Festivities

Sidney, Tom, and I are battling some kind of monster bug. Eli is the last man standing. Antibiotics have speeded things along a bit, and made it possible for us to enjoy the 4th of July festivities, in our small community. Everything was held a day prior to the actual event since it fell on a weekend. Our good friends Dustin and Jill had their annual 4th of July BBQ. Tom and Dustin spent many hours by the grill, in preparation of the pre fireworks feast. Tom hauls our smoker down to their house, and many hours later pork and beef ribs, as well as pulled pork were produced. Dustin is the only person that Tom trusts to watch over his ribs while he secures seating along the parade route. We live in Anytown USA, and our town has a parade on the 4th of July.


Seating is secured just about anywhere. This could be along main street or in the boulevard of someone’s home, living along the route. The main objective is to get the seats positioned at least 2 hours prior to the event. This meant by 7am, Tom had dropped off the ribs to Dustin and driven a truck load of lawn chairs to the boulevard of some unsuspecting persons house. We typically sit at the end, of the parade route, whereby floats are dumping candy to get rid of it. This is also a way to make sure the kids are not trampled trying to get candy on main street. Usually, I still find candy hanging out in a bowl in the cupboard around Halloween, and it is dumped. Eli is most excited about Christmas, but the 4th of July is a close second.

Festivities continued long after Dad took Sidney home to go to bed. Her cutoff was about 8pm. We still have some issues getting her to eat when we are in a large group. She is typically more excited about what is going on around her, or she simply doesn’t care. Given the fact that she is behind on growth and had a rough start, we work to get her to eat. That meant dad trying to get her to eat something before bed last night. We have found, consistency and routine in her eating environment helps a lot. Usually, it is not a big deal to make sure she eats something later. We found on vacation, she was a great eater, so we know that our hurried lifestyle has to slow down at dinner time to accommodate her.

Eli and Mom rode with Dustin & Jill and their girls to the fireworks. Tom and I made the compromise on child care that he could grill all day, if I got to take Eli to the fireworks. Anything else, in my opinion, would be un-American. It is most fun to watch the expression on Eli’s face. Through all of our fun yesterday, I kept thinking about last year. What I wouldn’t have given to see Sidney having fun along the parade route while the big kids guided her picking up candy. As the 1 year anniversary of her forever family day approaches, I am sure I will have more to share.