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Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Our Amazing Fourth of July in America's Birthplace

We started out our Fourth of July weekend on Friday with a visit to the carnival that was in town for Bath Heritage Days.  It was fun walking around and seeing all of the fun things, even though we didn't ride anything. 

We spent our Fourth of July morning at the parade, which is exactly where you should be on the Fourth of July. Kelson was even in the parade, which made it even better.


I am so proud of my Navy boy! Doesn't he look dashing?  Since Kelson was busy marching in the parade,  our friends the Ameses from church invited me to watch with them, and then we joined them for a barbecue after the parade. We were sad not to be with family for the holiday, but we were very grateful to have good friends to spend it with.

Last night, we packed up our picnic basket and headed to Portland (about half an hour away) for their Stars and Stripes Spectacular, which included a symphony concert and fireworks show.  Great view!

I have always loved the Fourth of July and still do. One of my favorite memories is watching Pops Goes the Fourth at my grandparents' house every year. Some kids want to be professional sports players or ballerinas.  I wanted to be in the Boston Pops so I could play the piccolo in Stars and Stripes Forever. I have always dreamed of going to Boston for the Fourth of July, and we are planning on going this year, but it turned out to be a logistical nightmare.  Instead, we had a fabulous time listening to the Portland Symphony Orchestra.  They were awesome.


We ate a delicious picnic while we waited.  Kelson is holding the last bite that we got to eat of the chocolate angel food cake I made. I left most of the cake covered in plastic wrap on our kitchen counter.  When we got home last night, our cake was crawling with thousands of tiny ants.  I hate ants! They are officially public enemy number one at the Mosier house.

Enjoying our picnic and the music. In case you can't tell, my hair is not a big fan of the humidity here.

The fireworks were incredible! We were so close that the ash was actually falling on us.  They started during  the last two minutes of the 1812 Overture, just like they do in Boston, and lasted for almost an hour.  They played music through the whole thing, including 5 Sousa marches and other patriotic songs and ending with the Stars and Stripes Forever.  I was in heaven.  As I laid there with Kelson watching the fireworks and singing God Bless America, I was reminded of why we are making the sacrifices we are to be in the Navy. It is because America is something worth fighting for. A lot of people have made sacrifices much greater than ours to provide us with the freedoms we have today, and it is necessary that good people continue to be willing to fight for our country if we are going to keep those freedoms. We are honored to make that sacrifice for our country. Now, when I have days when I am tired of the Navy and wish that Kelson had a normal job, I will think of those fireworks and be a little more grateful.  As we walked back to our car after the show ended, Kelson commented that we may have just ruined our future Independence Days by setting the standard too high. It was a great day, and it was neat to celebrate it here in New England where it all began.  

1 comment:

  1. What a fun 4th of July!! Last year we were in NYC for the 4th of July and it was absolutely crazy to see the number of people in Manhattan that were lining the streets to see the fireworks. Fun that your Kelson was in the parade :)

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