4th of July - Mountain Style

Princess Kickapoo, Chloe and Kendall in the parade. Princess Kickapoo and Kendall climb the rock wall.

Laughing Son (on the left) scales the wall as well.
Big Talker stopped the parade to grab some candy along the parade route.

Laughin Son, Big Talker and Drama Queen really cleaned up on parade booty.
For the past several years, we've heard about the 4th of July at the cabin. This year we finally got to experience it. What Fun! There were 3 large inflatables for the kids, including a 20 foot tall rock climbing wall. There was a face painter, cotton candy, sno-cones and popcorn (all you could eat) and a great band started playing around 6 pm. I got to try some North Carolina barbeque, whose sauce is vinegar based rather than ketchup. Different and yummy!

Before that, though, we drove up to the country club and watched the annual pet and golf cart parade. All the way up the mountain, we kept telling the kids not to be expecting much. It will be small and not very long and not very elaborate, we said. Upon arrival, we had to park and walk a bit, but especially Princess Kickapoo 8 and me. See, she was invited by her friends Chloe and Kendall to walk in the parade with them (we tried to get a cart but found out a bit too late). So up the very steep road we climbed until we found all the carts getting all lined up. What a thrill for an 8 year old to get to walk in the parade!! All in all there were probably 30 golf carts. (we saw Savannah as well). All were 4th of July/America proud type themes and a good many were Olympic themed with the Olympics around the corner, but no matter the theme, we were pretty impressed with the amount of work and effort put into these carts.. They were great! And each cart had candy and toys for the kids along the route (which is all of a 1/2 mile long), so my kids cleaned up on candy- after all we did have 3 sets of hands grabbing for them!

Afterward we had eaten and the kids had faces painted and tummies full of goodies, about 30 minutes before fireworks, it began to sprinkle. We gathered up our wares and headed back to the cabin, where we were sure we'd be able to see them just fine. But by the time we arrived home, the rain had stopped and so we grabbed our chairs and sparklers and headed back down. Remember me telling you about the man smoking on the porch of a fireworks store, directly in front of a "Fireworks: Do Not Smoke Within 50 feet" sign? Well, when Jethro had gone in to buy the sparklers, the guy in the store assured him that these new wooden ones don't burn as hot and therefore are safer for little kids. OK, we're in. What he failed to mention is that they put off enough smoke to give an 8 year old emphysema!! WOW! they were SO smoky.. the kids didn't seem to mind and we had like 80 of these things so we attracted every kid on the mountain and they were all lit directly in front of us! ha!! what a blast!

The actual fireworks show was well worth it... it lasted a good while and packed a powerful punch. Once again, the smoke was a bit thick as we were at ground zero to see the display (we've never been so close before). But it was all good.. especially since Big Talker didn't cry this year like he has always done in the past at the noise.

As for us grown folks, well, we actually rather enjoy the company of Chloe's and Kendall's parents and we all hung out together for the evening. We shared some wine and laughs and visited until 1030. Not to mention all the great folks who know Jethro's parental units and recognize him and they came to visit us as well.