Hometown Celebration

Last week I drove the 7ish hours to my hometown for the 4th of July. I love my hometown’s celebration. It really will always be the best one to me. The entire town, their families, and surrounding towns gather along the main street and neighborhoods to watch the parade. I have to admit though, that a lot the “floats” in this parade consist of tractors, 4-wheelers pulling a small flatbed or wagon, and horses. There are the “normal” floats, too—like a couple bands, the high school cheerleaders, dance team, and business floats. I tried to snap a few of the “highlights” with my phone. Say hello to my brother in the fifth picture down driving the pickup.

Parade1Parade2Parade3 Parade4 Parade5 Parade6 Parade7

Either way, I don’t care what the float is, as long as they throw candy and I can stand outside at 10 AM on Thursday drinking a Watermelon, I’m a happy camper. I can’t find a recipe for Watermelons, but it’s a drink full of alcohol that’s similar to Jungle Juice. Don’t judge.

Watermelon_Drink

I headed out to the river that afternoon with friends from high school. We were trying to make our way up the Missouri river to a restaurant/bar for food and drinks when we ran out of gas. Oops. Someone on a jet-ski that found us tried to pull us before we all said that was a bad idea.

River1 River2

Eventually another boat came up the river and pulled us to a nearby party beach where we were met with gas to make it to our final destination. My parents even had to come get myself, my childhood BFF Jamie and her BF to take back to town. Makes for a great story in my opinion.

River3 River4

The day ended with a fireworks display put on by a local community group. The community group my dad belongs to have always put on the show in the past, but after 20 (or maybe closer to 30?) years, they handed it off to someone else. We all agreed that the new group did a really good job.

Fireworks

I know I’m a whole week behind on this, but Happy 4th!

—m.