Turning Past into Present

The 4th of July happens to be one of my FAVORITE holidays! It has been since I can remember. I love everything about it. The noise, the smell, the company, the food, the crowds, the colors EVERYTHING!!! When I was little I remember we would wake up and go to the Lions Club Picnic down at Porter Park followed by a parade. We would always try to sit infront of Subway (which is now New York Burrito in Rexburg) Mainly because my mom was a stylist and that spot was right down from her work. After catching candy and making sure we recieved PLENTY of chocolate milk, we would head back to Porter Park to play games and have lunch. Soon after we would make our way down to Idaho Falls, to watch the 1 million dollar firework show! We would set up "camp" at Veterans Memorial Park and play frisbee and catch, and rollerblade, and bike around IF. Then at dusk, we would all sit out on blankets wrapped up in sweaters with my parents, and sisters, and most cousins, aunts, and uncles, and grandparents! I loved looking up into the sky cuddled up to the people I love listening to the song "I am proud to be an American" (I'm not sure really what the title is..) When everything was over we (my parentals) would pack everything up, and we would trek back to the 'Burg *I say trek because there were THOUSANDS of people trying to get outta there and sometimes it would take HOURS!! Atleast I think, because I usually was asleep before we even got out of the parking lot.
I was in LOVE with the idea, that I would carry on that tradition with my children when I got older. Thinking I would NEVER leave Idaho. But, here I sit. In North Dakota. With my loving husband and wonderful son. The 4th of July is in 6 days, and oh how I wish I could share the joy I had when I was little with my boys.
Since it takes a day to drive back to home, that is outta the question. The last couple of weeks I have been trying to figure out what in the world we are going to do. I want to have fun on the 4th, afterall isn't that what this holiday is about?! Celebrating?! I also want it as close to how I celebrated when I was a child. I got a paper today and found out that a little town called Sidney, MT has a pretty good celebration. It is about 45 minutes from Watford City. The have a breakfast served from 6am-12pm and a parade at 11am. Festivities at the park into the afternoon. With a lunch, and dinner and finished off with fireworks. I'm thinking we will probably be there well into the afternoon, then Dax will need a nap. So we will head home. Then when he wakes up we will head to Arnegard, ND to finish the off the night with dinner, and fireworks. I'm sure we will have just about as much fun as we would if we were in Idaho with the exception of not having family. I am so excited for this holiday and I cannot wait to have a fun filled day with my boys! I hope everyone has a fun and safe Independence Day and I will let you know how everything goes!!!