Happy Fourth of July and Finally Home from Vacation!!!!

I hope all of my blogger buddies, both US and abroad, are having a safe and happy 4th of July. To all of us in the US, it means freedom. But to most of everyone else, it's just another Saturday. It means exploding displays of bright lights, but believe me, here in the States, we don't need a reason like the 4th of July to explode fireworks. Here in the rural town I live in, we've already watched fireworks three times this summer. Why, I don't know, but every once in awhile, they blaze the park. (I'm sure it's to celebrate something, no one ever tells me anything.) Most ballparks use them to celebrate a home run hit by the home team. Disney ignites them in celebrations all the time and on almost every summer night at Disneyland and Disney World. And for Tinkerbell, it's how she would open the weekly Disney programming when I was a wee lass. (There wasn't a Disney channel back then, yeah, I do remember dinosaurs, had a pet T-Rex.)

Here's a peek at an opening on the Disney programming - circa 1970's.





If you asked my mom and dad, they're very patriotic. I'm sure there's ten flags hanging off my folks house right now, there always was when I was a kid. Did I tell you they used to set off fireworks on July 4th at the drive-in? It was always a special occasion and we would leave early, smear on plenty bug repellent, spread out a blanket, have a picnic, pile back into the station wagon (there were only five kids back then as well as Mom and Dad), and watch two movies. After the movies, we'd lie down on the blanket, and the fireworks would ignite. There was four drive-ins in Springfield where I grew up and the night sky would be full of color, sulfur, and smoke. It was amazing. So, here's to the 4th of July and to many more to come!

(Odd that the display is canceled this year due to rain, but like I said, we've had three displays already.)



As a side note, we got home from vacation this evening. We just took a small vacation, the kids didn't want to go too far from home. We chose Indianapolis this year for our 4 day get-a-way because the uptown is amazing. We stayed in a small hotel outside Indianapolis and two blocks down from our wonderful hotel (it was so clean, nice, and the staff was sweet - Holiday Inn Express in Lebanon IN) you'll never guess what was there, The Hachette Book Group. It took up acres and acres of property. It was huge. At least two warehouse size buildings, one for shipping and receiving and one for professional services. I couldn't believe that I would go on vacation only to find the source of some many amazing books that are given away on the internet. Well, anyway I was amazed. The hubs and the kids were like uh, so? I know, I'm a nerd.