on patriotism

my earliest, and favorite memories of Independence Day were jumping off of rocks the size of two story houses, fishing for crawdads and getting burnt to a crisp at Lake Tahoe. the cool evenings spent on the top level of a parking garage, lying on top of the suburban, on top of a lumpy electrical blanket (i thought everyone brought their old electrical blankets for picnics) and oohing and ahhing at each burst of light. the radio static would eventually leak through a few strains of a patriotic song and we would devour bags of candy before heading home in utter bliss.

the kids have never disappointed on the 4th of July, except the one year we woke Lucy up for the fireworks and she asked to go back to bed. and the three years in a row we refused to take Rodney because he hates loud noises. but it is always full of family and fun and someone getting burnt by a firework.

this week on pinterest was post after post of patriotic nails and tees and etc. etc. etc. well, i'm lame. i don't have patriotic nails, or shirt, or matching dresses for my girls. but we will swim and eat bbq and get sunburnt and watch the fireworks display. i hope my kids have magical memories of all of these small things that we have the FREEDOM to choose to do or not to do.

God bless America
Home of the Free

i snapped a few of these photos with Ty's phone on our way home from Las Vegas this week. the heat was suffocating, 115*? 116*? and our little car was struggling to keep the air cooler than 90*, but i still saw some desert beauty with my eyes. maybe i will survive this summer