Small town July 4th

We had another one of those small town 4th of July holidays this year.
If you've been reading my blog for a while you may remember that each year my son's Scout Troop hosts a community pancake breakfast.  Ben, who has been away working as a camp counselor, was home this past week and got to join in the fun.
Look how good we look for being up at the crack of dawn to help set up for a 7 am start.
The group has gotten very good at putting on the breakfast: cooking up food that tastes really GOOD, keeping it warm, and getting it served quickly to all who come out for the fun.
We usually have a great turn out.  Besides the food there's a raffle, a DJ playing tunes (he doesn't start until 8 am), face painting...
and the kids get to decorate bikes and have a parade which is always a hoot.
We had a bright, sunny, dry, hot day for the 4th this year.
As always, we were happy to have our local heroes stop by to give tours of the truck and join in the fun.  We appreciate them so much, and this year more than ever as we begin the recovery from the Black Forest Fire.
Later that day, we went to Black Forest for a cookout at Rebecca's house.  It was the first time I'd been to that town since the fire swept through it.
We were celebrating with some of Rebecca's friends and neighbors that were deeply affected by that fire, including a family that lost their home, and another family who were evacuated for about 2 weeks.  Everyone wanted to talk about That Day.
Photo we took yesterday of where our dog's veterinarian's building once stood (in the background) -- it's all gone.
It was great to be at Rebecca's house and hear how things are slowly getting back to normal; just the day before yesterday, the family who lost their home FINALLY found a home to rent so they can begin to start over.
And of course, we enjoyed good food along with the good company.
For the first time in recent memory, I didn't hear a single string of firecrackers go off in my neighborhood.  Fireworks are typically banned because of the fire risk and hooligans typically ignore the ban.  But not this year.
I was glad, and happy to be able to spend a little time with my boy (in the striped shirt above) before he's off to work/camp again.  I hope you had a safe and happy 4th of July celebration, too!

Comments

Unknown said…
So glad you got to see Ben. Still hard to believe that fire did SOOO much damage. Hope your job is going well too. Happy Fourth!
Kathy said…
It sounds like a delightful 4th of July celebration. I am happy that even the hooligans co-operated to keep everyone safe! Even here in Portland I think we had the least amount of booming going on that I can ever remember and it was all (within my earshot) over by about 11:30pm.
JoJo said…
Looks like a lot of fun!! The food looked amazing too.
Kelli Davidson said…
You all had a lovely time! The parade looks fun as does the pancake breakfast - Oh how good pancakes sound right now! :)
autena said…
What a fun day that must've been! Glad to know you and your family are okay.
Unknown said…
I love small towns on the Fourth. people from the city never understand why the Fourth is my favorite Holiday. I am glad you had a good one.

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