Spirit of America Celebration

Yesterday we attended a Spirit of America Celebration.  It is hosted by a wonderful lady in our parish who has a love for our country and our a desire to rekindle a knowledge of our founding fathers.  Each of the adults is assigned an identity of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.  We then mingle to learn about each other and test our knowledge in a trivia game.  The children were also given identities and read some short pieces for a little program.  There was food to eat and games to play.  It was ridiculously hot (over 100 degrees in the shade!), but there were plenty of shade trees and a nice breeze.  I did duck inside the air conditioned home to feed Peter, but other than that we were all outside for over 3 hours.  It was a great afternoon with friends learning more about the men who risked it all to form our great nation.

Some children reading a bit of history about the 4th of July.

The adults showing off their knowledge (or lack of!) the founding fathers.

Some treats and of course a good variety of liquid refreshment.

Essie and Madeline taking a lemonade break in the shade.

Todd helping Lillian refill a water gun while holding sleeping Peter.

Most of the children played a game of Rounders which is a predecessor of America's favorite pass-time - baseball!

Isn't it pretty?!  Did I mention that we are huge fans of Cake Boss?  Not exactly up to Buddy's level, but we were happy with how it turned out!

We came home, sat in the air conditioning a bit, and had some friends over for a little BBQ.  She brought over the meat and potato salad and I provided some chips and veggies.  Then we had dessert that Haley and I made that morning.  Check it out....red, white, and blue cake!

The kids all headed outside to run in the sprinklers for a bit to wait for it to get dark.  Then we hopped into big blue and went to watch the fabulous fireworks display over the lake.  It was almost 11:00 pm before the last kiddo was tucked in, so it was a long and exhausting day.  I am glad that it only happens only once a year!

God Bless!

Heather :-)

Spirit of America Celebration

Typically, our 4th of July is spent in Minot, ND visiting family and shooting off fireworks.  Due to the horrible flood covering the city, we postponed our trip and stayed close to home.  We were invited to a "Spirit of America" party in the afternoon.  It was a unique way to celebrate our country's independence.  As we arrived, each person was given an identity of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Your job was to read up on your person and mingle with the others and find out about each other.  What a neat way to learn about the signers! There was a brief program with tidbits of information about our history followed by learning/activity stations for the children.  Then there was some game time with potato sack and 3-legged races.  At the end, we all came together to "debrief" a bit and share anything that we'd learned. 

Craft time was led by Martha Washington.

A chance to talk about and play games that children would have played during the Revolution.

Story time.

Joseph (left) and Madeline (right) competing at the potato sack race.

I love my Haley's outgoing personality!  She didn't have a partner for the 3 legged race, so she walks up to some adult she's never met before and says, "Would you please be my partner?"  They went on to win the race.  That's Todd and Madeline coming in 2nd behind them.

And here is me sitting with Eleanor at the chicken coop.  She spent most of the time talking to and about the chickens and chasing the cats....ahhhh...life on a farm!

After a couple hours in the hot July sun, we headed home for some supper and air conditioning before heading off to our next event.  Some friends invited us to an event sponsored by their church.  It was a really neat carnival that the children had a blast at!  Afterwards, we got our blankets and lawn chairs set up to watch the fireworks display over the lake.  It would have been absolutely perfect, if not for all of the mosquitoes!  It's kind of a joke around here that the state bird is the mosquito.  They were out in full force last night.

All the bug spray in Minnesota wasn't even a deterrent.  So, today we're itching and scratching but the fireworks display was amazing!

Esther had the best time crawling in and out of the bounce house for little kids.

Lillian and Madeline buddied up and made the rounds.

Joseph and Haley taking a water break.

Eleanor fishing for a prize.

Mom and Madeline waiting for the fireworks show to begin.

It was a good half hour to get out of the parking lot and onto the highway to get home.  The kids were pooped and were asleep almost instantly - gotta love that!  We had a great day with family and friends remembering what the 4th of July means mixed with a whole lot of fun.  You couldn't ask for much more than that!

God Bless!

Heather :-)