Saturday, July 5, 2008

Happy Fourth of July!


We celebrated our country's independence yesterday with:
* a parade filled with kids and dogs and families in one of Omaha's nicest neighborhoods.
* an afternoon of food and fun at a friend's house
* a little bit of baseball and a lot of fireworks at Rosenblatt Stadium.

We were up until 1 a.m., after the traffic jam that kept us in the stadium parking lot for 40 minutes. My sister and brother spent the night and have been playing Star Wars with Rye for most of the morning. Rye is very happy.

The best part of my day was the neighborhood parade. Led by the neighborhood's mailman and a brass band, hundreds of families line up with decorated wagons, strollers and bikes to parade down this beautiful, tree-lined street and then rendezvous in the park. There, kids ride in a circle around a grassy infield and "judges" pick out the best in each category.

We were proud of our creation: a landspeeder from Star Wars, made by our friend, Jeff. Complete with a Death Star and a sign that said, "May the Force be with USA," we thought we should definitely win.

We didn't win, but we think the first place "wagon" completely cheated. It was a converted go-cart - driven by an adult -- that had four cars behind it. They were made of steel drums. It was cool. But totally out of anyone else's league.

So we got second. And that is OK.

Here is a video from the parade.


5 comments:

Ashley said...

We had a very fun time last night and today!

I like the Star Wars wagon that you made! Think you guys should've won. :)

Anonymous said...

thanks for taking you sister and brother along to the fireworks and water park. they had a great time! justin said his favorite part was the baseball game...cool. you're a terrific mom, daughter, and sister! mom

Chris said...

How cool! I bet Rye had a great day.

Veronica said...

Thanks, Mother. It was fun with Ashley and Justin. They can hang out with us anytime!

Anonymous said...

Oh, that float looks like a winner to me! That's a much better effort than we made decorating bikes--a few streamers, stars & flags were NOTHING compared to some of the bikes that could've been mistaken for floats. But none with the cool Star Wars theme. My boys would've definitely voted for you!