Fourth of July

We don't have a traditional Fourth of July activity or plan. Most of the time Doug will Bar-B-Que a meal and we'll go somewhere locally to see fireworks. A couple of times in the last few years we have gone to the local pool to celebrate. The pools celebrate their opening anniversary on the fourth with games and cake. Later in the evening we go to the local high school and sit in the field to watch fireworks.

Last year we were in WA and celebrated the holiday with family at the lake. This year we helped sell glow lights at the park attached to the local zoo. The boys are Jr. Zoo Keepers and if they stay in the program they'll have an opportunty to travel with members of the Jr. Zoo Keeper Organization to Costa Rica. (The oldest is going in December.) The boys earn a percentage of money for helping sell the glow necklaces and that is placed in their Costa Rica account at the zoo.

The park has an outdoor ampitheatre, lake/large pond, playground, pavilions and picnic areas. For the Fourth of July the park has a musical performance and a fireworks show. There were about six or eight groups of people helping sell glow necklaces for the zoo. The boys with dad headed to the far side of the lake to sell glow necklaces. That left my girl and me to sell on the other side of the lake near the playground and ampitheatre. It was quite hot and sales were slow during the daylight. As dusk arrived sales picked up a bit. It seems that the boys faired better than us, selling more than 100 necklaces while we girls sold close to 50.

Once the first of the fireworks began we headed back to the side entrance of the zoo. We stayed inside the gates of the zoo, enjoyed drinks that we had left in a cooler in the zoo classroom, and watched fireworks from the gazebo. We had a great view and the booming of the fireworks was muted, which made the youngest one happy since she can't stand the loud booming sound. It was a wonderful relaxing time.