Fourth of July Adventures

Yikes! It is already the end of the 6th, and I have yet to share the my Fourth of July holiday with you all. First off, you have to realize that I live in a town called Independence, therefore, Independence Day is a big deal around here. Every year, my town (and the neighboring town) host two festivals, a parade and a "mini-marathon" for the holiday. We take this holiday very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that people set up their chairs for the parade at least 24 hours in advance.

This is a shaded spot, but there were chairs lined up on both sides of the road.

Right before the parade is the mini-marathon, a 2.6 mile run along the parade route. People are already in their chairs cheering for us, and cooling us off with squirt guns, hoses and sprinklers. I don't have any pictures of the run, but here is what I wore to run in.

In true fashion blogger style, I am not looking at the camera. My friend Kim and I made these matching tutus a couple weeks ago for the run, but like a dummy, I don't have a picture of us together. Boo! 

If you haven't had the pleasure of attending a small town parade, these pictures will give you a glimpse into the big event. Please remember, people put their chairs out a full 24 hours in advance for this.

There were plenty of tractors.// And a giant stretch truck thing. (Complete with a man singing on the top)//This was a float by one of the churches. It made the Mister uncomfortable.//Mini pony inside a van.

Carpet Hero is at every parade//Lots of horses. The mayors and city managers of the two towns act as a "clean up crew" at the end of the parade.// These are local violin students. One year a kid fell off the float. I laughed. Then felt bad.// See, we have some fancy floats.

The trike bikes//A tricked out lawn mower. My guess it will be used at the lawn mower races in September.//Yes, that is a man in a motorized wheelchair pulling a trailer.// Landscapers have floats too.

There were also the Shriners, a bunch of tricked out cars and classic cars, the cable company van, the towing company's trucks and more, but this was the highlight of the parade for me:

She wasn't part of a business, or a church or a club or anything. Just an old lady wearing red, white and blue, riding on her motorized wheelchair, with a curly cue horn. 

After the parade we walked down to the festival to eat a healthy lunch:

Tacos al pastor, hand dipped corn dog and apple pie fries. Yummy!

Gus wanted to get in on the Fourth of July festivities. And really, I wanted to do this to him since I made it:

That was pretty much it. The heat(all 78 degrees of it!) combined with the crummy food and not enough water was enough to trigger a migraine. Boo. After a nap and some Advil, I was still kind of out of it. Since the Mister had to work the next day, we opted out of the fireworks and watched some on TV like 70 year olds.

Does your town do anything for Independence Day? Do you dress your pets up? I can't be the only one!