4th of July

The 4th of July is American Independance Day. This is celebrated with the American Flag being displayed even more than usual & lots of events, concluding in fireworks (lots of them) on the 4th.

Striped marquees started appearing along major higways about a month before the 4th, & it wasn't long before signs started to advertise buy 1 get 5 free firework deals. The marquees were open 24 hours a day & whenever we passed one, it was busy.

Beth had made some friends at her pom & cheer class who lived fairly close to us. Emily & Jordan's mum & dad, Sherri & Steve, kindly invited us to their house to join in with the celebrations on the 4th. Beth & the other children played on the trampolene & swam in the pool whilst Steve looked after the barbeque before we all went inside & enjoyed the food that Steve & Sherri had prepared.

The weekend had been really hot & sunny (& of course humid). However, at about 7:00pm it started to rain really heavily. Eventually the rain stopped (for a while) & the fireworks display started. The fireworks were just placed in the middle of the road & lit. All the children had some sparklers & there were these really cool firework race cars that were rocket propelled. It started raining again about an hour later but this didn't stop the fireworks. We had a really good time & didn't leave until about 11:00pm. It was only then that you appreciated how many fireworks had been set off as the road was absolutely covered with empty casings & there was a smoky smelling fog with still more fireworks visible in the distance!