4th of July

If the fourth of July was associated with a fruit, it would most likely be watermelon; however this bowl full of cherries seems pretty patriotic to me. Not to mention absolutely delicious!

I understand that it is now July 13th and that my blog posting for the 4th is super late, but better late than never right? This Fourth of July we took Liam back to the place where mommy and daddy grew up - Corsicana Texas. Or as many of us refer to it as "The Can."We started our hometown celebration with a backyard BBQ!

And a reunion with an old friend, Elliott Hillock! He had returned home from serving our country in the army and we were so happy for him to meet Liam.

Ellen set an exciting table of red, white, and blue while Liam spent most of the afternoon happily entertained by the new exersaucer that Mea and Pop found and then pooped out in the arms of his great-grandmother Billie Love.

If there is one thing that I miss about living in a small town it is snow cones! Yes, sounds crazy, but there is no where in Houston to get a snow cone. I have searched high and low. And the one thing I was looking forward to the very most (besides family of course) was CLOSED. Seriously? On July 4th weekend you close your snow cone shop? Thank you very much Sno Biz.

So, we settled for Braum's orange sherbet shivers and headed 5 miles out of town to load up on sparklers, bottle rockets and the ever so popular roman candles. It's the little things!

 And our visit would not have been complete without a visit to the ever so popular Wal-mart! You laugh, but it is quite the family outing and you are sure to run into everyone you know and their mother there!

 The boys spent the majority of the time trying to capture the faces of those who could be proudly displayed on the website for Wally World - mission aborted. Including the one where Bruce tried to take Liam and my picture with the ever colorful, grey-haired twins. If you are from there, you have seen them... don't lie! Ellen and I quickly loaded up the cart with fans, bug spray, folding chairs, a bubble wand and cottage cheese (?). A successful trip!

We continued the tradition of the Corsicana Country Club for firework viewing and dinner. It was the summer of 1991 (yes, 19 years ago) when Bill and I had our very first dance at the CCC Gary P Nunn concert. There are so many wonderful memories enclosed in the acreage that is the Triple C. It is where I learned to golf. It is where our families grew up. It is the home of many grudge golf matches between the Johnson and Robinson families. It is filled of generations of lifeguards at the pool and above all the Fourth of July celebrations!

I take for granted that we were able to set off our very own fireworks down by the little pond on the golf course. Traditions of blankets and chairs surrounding fathers trying not to set their arms on fire while lighting bottle rocket after bottle rocket! Squeals of little ones chasing after one another while trying to write their names before the end of the sparkler ran out.

I love the Fourth of July. And even though Liam felt more secure watching the display from the comfort of indoors and was asleep before the grand finale, it was best put by the youngest of the Monk boys "This was the greatest Fourth of July ever!" Because you remember what it was like to be that age.

How cool setting off your very own fireworks were. How the moms stood on the sidelines and yelled "point that the other way" and ducked as one of the roman candle balls fired across the crowd.

And as we celebrated this country, our freedom and our family, we remembered what was truly important.

Happy Fourth of July!