July 4th

Happy 244, America! You got some work to do, and also we're still proud to be American with the rights and freedoms that we ALL deserve. We believe that ALL people deserve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We believe that justice should be re-evaluated to make up for several mistakes of our country's past. And we believe that we live in a country capable of the hard work. We believe America's Birthday is a holiday worth celebrating, and celebrating we did!

With Shabbat starting the night before, we got into the spirit with braided red, white, and blue challah!

Fun with patriotic colors continued the morning of Independence Day with toppings for our waffles and carefully selected clothes.


Since the traditional neighborhood bike and walking parade couldn't happen safely during a pandemic, it was revisioned as a car parade, and the route passed right in front of our house! We were outside and ready early so we wouldn't miss it.

We waited very patiently while the parade navigated through the streets to us and enjoyed a patriotic dance party in the mean time. (You'll notice the music and dancing followed us much of the day.)


Parade time!

(video edited for time efficiency; you're welcome)

We met up with our favorite neighborhood residents for a WWII fighter plane formation flyover above our neighborhood and a much needed dance party.

Aren't they just the patriotic cutest?

Lest you think we had already had enough fun with red, white, and blue food, you clearly didn't realize that we HAD to make edible (unhealthy but yummy) American flags.






Post nap and 4 haircuts later (unrelated to the holiday), we were showered, wardrobe changed (glow sticks on), and ready for a fun evening still in the patriotic spirit.

We waited patiently for neighbors to decide it was dark enough to start the show while we had some sparkle fun of our own.


While all of us were up past our bedtimes, one little guy realized it before others. He dropped out of the party, but the rest of us kept on going.

Our neighborhood reliably has tons of fireworks every year on July 4th, and this year we were even more grateful for the extra abundance of folks finding social distanced ways of setting off tons and tons so we could take advantage of the beauty.




Happy Birthday, America! And to all, a good night!