Fabulous Fourth

This was one of the best Independence Days in a long time.  We started with a pancake breakfast. Do you know the difference between a flapjack and a pancake?  Neither do I.  But I've always pictured flapjacks thin and pancakes fluffy.  Am I correct?

Then, regardless of the heat
(by the way Tucson is usually a good 5 degrees cooler than Phoenix and Safford is another few degrees cooler than Tucson so if you see Phoenix on the news you can figure out what we've got here) we headed downtown for the parade.  Downtown by the way is one main street with cute shops and decorated shop windows.  The big chains (mostly of fast food... but we do have a Walmart and Home Depot) stay along the highway and try to sit right between Safford and her neighbor Thatcher.  By the way, St. Johns (where we lived for 6 months in northern Arizona) doesn't have a downtown...

But back to the parade.  There was a good turn out.  We were sitting on the curb in front of some grand parents who knew just about everybody who drove by.  It reminded me of a friend's family tradition.  In their small town they bring ice chests of water balloons to throw at the people they know in the parade... which I now gather can be most of the participants.  The girls were most impressed with the boy scouts carrying a flag as wide as the two lanes they marched down.

After the parade we hit up the water shop for some snow cones and a lunch of dogs, brats and corn on the cob.  This is what made the day special for Grant.  Maybe one day we'll have a grill to do it "right."

To cool ourselves we headed up Mt Graham and stopped in Wet Canyon.  Unlike Noon Creek, Wet Canyon actually lives up to its name.  The shoes were off and the kids were in and up the creek in no time.

By the time we got to the fairgrounds for the fireworks show everyone was a bit wearied...  And then due to monsoon season the show started a good half hour late...  But there were enough people with their own small fireworks that we were surrounded by a pre-show.  Loved it!

Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays.  I think I might like it better than Christmas in some ways...  I love the sense of community and pulling together for the Fourth.  I love the feeling of nationality.  I love patriotic music.  I'm amazed by fireworks.  And I love this country.