GOD BLESS AMERICA!

God Bless America, Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her,
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam.
God bless America, My home sweet home.


I love the Fourth of July and all of the celebrations that go along with it. I always have. When I was in elementary school, I marched in the parades in our little city with either the Girl Scouts or a baton twirling group I was in. Man, did I think that was big stuff! I still love to watch parades, but now I watch with adult/mother's eyes, getting teary-eyed when Kelsey's high school band marches by playing all of those patriotic songs (she's playing the piccolo this marching season), getting teary-eyed when I see the veterans ride by in convertibles, and getting teary-eyed over all of the kids proudly riding their little bikes decorated with streamers and flags. Tim teases that he doesn't know why I love parades so much when all I do is cry while I'm watching them. It's pitiful, I know.
Does anyone have an exciting plans for the holiday? We will be going to the parade, and then my cousin has invited us to their house for a cookout. I'm so excited! I love to fix food for get togethers, but especially for the 4th because I can use all of my patriotic serving dishes. They live in the country and hope to have fireworks, weather permitting. We frequently go to the concert that our local symphony orchestra puts on and then to the fireworks, but it doesn't look like the weather is going to cooperate in our area tomorrow for outdoor activities.
My office is closing on the 4th, 5th and 6th for the holiday - pretty incredible - and I'm on vacation until July 17, so I have an extra long break. I can't tell you how excited I am to have that much time off.
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, but however you choose to celebrate our nation's birthday, please be careful and keep yourself safe. The roads will be busy and there will be a lot of people celebrating.
Hugs,
Laurie