Happy Independence Day

Our Fourth of July this year wasn't so bad. It was SO nice having a day off of work and being able to sleep in. The only problem is we have had SO much going on the past few weeks that when I woke up, I just wanted to take it as a day off. As in, do house stuff, clean, organize, get stuff done so I could get back into a rhythm. Celebrating any holidays was not on my mind so much. 

Luckily, I woke up a little early and decided to surf Instagram and found one of my Utah pages posting about the country's biggest flag (weighing a whopping 400 lbs!!) would be suspended in Pleasant Grove and is a short walk to go underneath it. I checked to see how far it was from us and when I saw less than 30 minutes I thought "Ooh! We could squeeze that in after breakfast and it could be really cool to see this!" So when everyone got up I asked the girls if that sounded cool and they were all for it.

Luckily, I was able to find mostly festive outfits for the kids (Pierce was technically in red, black, and blue, but it was the closest I could find). And all outfits were mountain trail friendly!

The hike really wasn't too bad, it was all uphill, but not too difficult. It was right near a stream so Cara became obsessed with finding a way to get down to touch the water, so we let her lead the way for a bit. We found a nice shaded clearing and went and played near the water. Larry hung the kids upside down to touch the water (everyone but Lucy seemed to like that part haha). I got some great pictures of the flag and the beautiful nature around us. We did the hike for a bit and then turned around after a while (I wasn't planning a full hike so we didn't have sunscreen or much water and snacks). 

Once we got back home we had some watermelon and blueberries. It felt very festive and I was feeling lucky we had those already in our fridge. After that we had some "bbq" burgers for lunch (yum!) and got ready for nap time. Larry took a nap while I read our "Night Before the Fourth of July" book to the girls and let them have popsicles outside. Then I let them play "music videos" (Kids YouTube) while I researched some other things on my computer.

After nap time things died down a bit. I couldn't find any parades or anything else to do. Outside was 90 degrees so just being outside with no shade was out. We figured the pool might be crazy and I didn't think many stores would be open to walk so we just hung around the house.

For dinner we had bbq chicken sandwiches with pasta salad and then went outside to play with our poppers, sparklers, and the water table. The ice cream truck drove by so we got some ice cream from that and had fun celebrating. I had hoped fireworks would start by 8 so I could let the girls stay up a bit later (I even pushed bath time back a bit to give it as much time as possible), but I didn't hear anything so we had to put them to bed. They didn't end up starting until 9! Maybe next year we'll actually get to watch them?

So even though it started great and ended up a bit more low key, we still had a lot of fun with it. I'm glad the kids enjoyed the flag and I loved telling them about why today is such a good day and why we celebrate it. While I wouldn't say this is my favorite holiday, I do enjoy learning more about our history and thinking about being back in certain times and a time like this where we celebrated such a big victory makes me so proud to be an American. I really do appreciate those who have sacrificed so much so that I can be in this country!

Happy Independence Day 2023!