3rd of July

Well, it's been a long time and a lot has happened that I've missed blogging about.  I finally realized that these are memories that won't be captured for future reminiscince.  So, I've decided to resurrect my blog and start capturing those memories again.  Whether I'll blog about the one's I've missed remains to be seen.

The 3rd of July is a celebration event in Orange held every year on July 3rd.  There are bounce houses and slides, food booths and information booths detailing city services, sponsors information, etc.  There is also a patriotic show followed by some amazing fireworks.

Janice, Kyleigh and I went this year (David had a game).  Kyleigh had a lot of fun playing in the bounce houses and slides and visiting the various booths including one where she got to create a card for a serviceman.  She drew an American flag with the pole on the wrong side, but I'm sure the person receiving it will appreciate it anyway.

In the picture below, she's hugging the new City of Orange mascot.  She could see a person through the eyes so she told us it was just a man.

They also had a ladder truck and Kyleigh decided she had to visit.  This fireman gave her a tour of the truck and let her sit in every seat and play with the headphones.  He probably spent about 15 minutes with her and she enjoyed every one of them.

Here she's talking on the headset.  Once she put it on, the other fireman in the picture put his on too so she could talk to him.

After a dinner of corn on the cob, hot dogs or hamburgers and kettle corn, we went up into the stands for the show.  I didn't realize that this was the city of Orange's 125th birthday and that was celebrated as well as the introduction of Miss Orange and the singing of patriotic songs.  One of the song medleys that I espeially enjoy is the singing of the various armed services anthems while the veterans of those branches stand.  The gentlemen sitting beside me was in the Navy and two gentlemen just behind us were in the Marines and their voices carried very well.  Of course, now Kyleigh has all kinds of questions regarding the military, wars, etc.

This was followed by the fireworks, which are some of the best around.  The finale lasted a very long time and was full of red, white and blue offerings.  The whole display was backdropped by some of the songs we'd sung earlier.