A Glorious Fourth

It was a Max Marathon this weekend, as he stayed with us Thursday Friday, Saturday nights and Sunday until late evening. He was very excited to see Auntie Ann and they had lots of fun together. He brought out a box containing a paper airplane kit and the three of us sat out on the deck folding our planes. Ann said, “C’mon Max, what’s taking so long?” Max retorted, “You can’t rush perfection.” Shane and Ann and Max had some outings together over the weekend, and they invited me to see the fireworks on July 4th with them. We got to the general area at about 8:30pm, and the show didn’t start until 10:00pm. Max was pretty good the whole time, but he petered out before the finale, so we left a little early. Sunday evening I took him for a walk to get some air—it had cooled off a little by then—and we stopped at our friend’s house a couple of block away. Her name is also Kathy. Kathy offered Max some fruit punch, which he accepted with thanks. When she noticed he had finished it, she asked him if he wanted some more. He responded by saying he wanted a marshmallow. We couldn’t figure out what he was talking about, so friend Kathy said, “I’m sorry honey, I don’t’ have any marshmallows.” Max looked surprised and said, “Why’d you ask me if I wanted a s’more, then?” What we got here…is failure to communicate.

Daughter Ann arrived last week, coming home to go to her high school friend’s wedding. Her friend is Indian—dot not feather—and they will have an traditional Indian ceremony along with an American style reception at a nice hotel in downtown Cleveland. I am taking Monday off so we can go dress shopping. Maybe Ann will find something, too.j

We had left a suitcase in Ireland since we didn’t need it for our return trip. Ann filled it with fifty pounds of junk food: specially flavored potato chips, Cadbury cookies, Cadbury chocolate, Rollo mints, Mars Bars and other goodies that we can’t get here in the States. We were thrilled.

She also brought Max a special treat: a tipi kind of tent that they set up in the living room. Ann didn’t count on Max’s growth spurt, but he still enjoyed crawling into the tent and playing with his toys in there.

On July 4th, we made a day of it, going to the parade in the morning and then the fireworks at night. Max was excited about the parade because he remembered that different groups threw candy to the kids last year. He came home with a bagful, like Halloween in July. Every politician and obscure candidate made an appearance, along with more incongruous entries, like a semi from a truck driving school, and another semi from a freight company. No decorations, just big trucks. A few units did have more traditional floats with historical themes, but most did not get very fancy.

All three high school bands from the city were there, a small veterans group, and then a big crowd of “Adventure neé Indian Princesses and another group of boys. When our boys were in the group, sponsored by the YMCA, they were called Indian Guides. Apparently, about a year ago, someone decided they had to be politically correct, I guess, and they changed the names. I never thought anything racist was going on with the name “Indian”, in fact, it was an honest to goodness Native American guy who started it all. I always thought it was a great idea, rather than the Boy Scouts, since every boy had a father with him at the camp outs and monthly meetings. I liked the fact that they didn’t just hand the kids over to one or two adults to run everything. Anyway, it looks like the group is still strong, it just has a new name.

At the fireworks, we sat at the high school across the street from the community college where the show was being done. We agreed with Shane that we didn’t want to be too far into a crowd in case Max needed to get home. It cooled off in the evening, so we had jackets with us, lawn chairs, drinks and snacks. We were prepared! Once the show started, it was evident that we were very far away and there were some trees in the way. I scurried off to set up my tripod in the parking lot to get some better shots. (My camera has a “fireworks” setting and I always wanted to try it.)

Sure enough, Max asked to go back to the car before the show was over since he was getting cold and of course the car was only a few feet away. He and Ann were in the back seat and he said to his aunt, “Let’s close our eyes for a minute” and then he was out. I did get a few good shots but next year I might get a little closer.

Hope you had a fun weekend.