We’re just barely in the United States, up in the very Northwest corner of Washington. There’s a little town called Birch Bay and it boasts a beach with a ridiculously low tide (you can walk out a mile during the day), a fun mixed community and a water slide that we’ll hopefully enjoy tomorrow if the weather cooperates. About 20 minutes away lies Blaine, WA and this was State #10’s hot destination.
Do you love small-town Fourth of July parades as much as me? I sat up front on the street (when will I ever remember to bring camping chairs?) and quickly got labeled “a great parade mom”. In other words, I was happy to take charge of about 8 kids that weren’t mine while the other parents stood far behind us drinking beer! This one little toddler boy must have asked me to unwrap about 20 pieces of candy, one after another. I finally said, “Which one is your mommy?” He pointed a chubby finger and I made a mental note. See, I’m feeling for her tonight, because she’s probably cleaned up a lot of puke by now.
The kids are so hilarious at a parade. For example, a big rig went by with a driver wearing a bright blue wig. Little Man bent his elbow and did the motion for the guy to honk his horn. Well the guy looked Little Man dead in the eye and pretended to honk by pulling his arm down and making a deep honking sound with his voice. It took Little Man a minute to realize the guy was faking, but when he did, he couldn’t hold back his glee at the joke.
I sing to the kids a lot, but I don’t know all the words to our country’s favorites. So, we’ve suffered through hours of listening to patriotic songs on the highly recommended children’s cd “God Bless the U.S.A.” and it really paid off. At the parade, people couldn’t believe our kids knew the words to every patriotic song that went by. They sang their hearts out. Then suddenly they each turned around and gave me this “you done me wrong” look. Sure enough, I hadn’t taught them the words to Neil Diamond’s “Coming to America.”
We were at this parade last year and I realized that the kids had never seen so much candy come their way, even at Halloween. We had some discussions about greed last year and it was nice to see another example of Peanut’s 8 year old maturity: she’d scramble for buckets of candy and then turn around and pass it out to all the little people (keeping butterscotch for herself!) who weren’t quick enough. Also, last year a parade helper walked by and told Little Man to stay behind the white line. This year, he took on the role of Police Officer himself and woe to all those kids who dared to step over the boundary!
Doodle was content to just sit in my lap, eating piece after piece of candy that got tossed her way. She was finally motivated to get up when a Dog Grooming Float came by with puppies dressed up like dolls, pink ribbons in their hair and whatever else. Then the announcement came from another little girl standing in front, “A princess is coming! A princess is coming!” and when Ms. Whatcom County came by waving the wave from atop a convertible, Doodle never sat down again. She was in her element.
Grandma thought she was having a great time until a Funnel Cake tent came loose and one of the supports literally tried to split her in two. Several of us in line witnessed the beam come loose and we scrambled to avoid it. Poor Grandma was just people watching when BAM! it landed smack in the middle of the back of her head. She was really shaken up with the rotten surprise and it obviously hurt like hell. I held up fingers for her to count and she tried mightily not to wet her pants. My heartfelt prayer was that we weren’t in for another trip to E.R. because the nearest one is in Bellingham. She’s a tough bird and only ended up with a headache.
We’ve rented a house at the southern end of Birch Bay State Park and it’d be perfect except that we can’t seem to find matches anywhere to light our sparklers! They’ll have to wait until tomorrow night. So far we’re lucky and the kids are sleeping through the fireworks outside. Pretty soon they’ll clue in and we won’t be able to get away with putting them to bed at 8pm on July 4th.
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