I love my country, and I’m glad to be an American, but when I write things like this, and this, and this,
I know there are people who would doubt my patriotism. I don’t care.
Part of why I love this country is I am allowed to voice criticism of it
and admit to discomfort with certain elements. I don’t have to be
anyone’s idea of a traditional American in order to be a real one.
But one of the ways I am almost ridiculously traditional is in my
love of the 4th of July (even if I don’t own a flag). It’s a terrific
holiday. A national event to commemorate the signing of a powerful
document; not a date about war, or a specific person, or a religion, but
of an idea. About beginning something new and daring that has evolved
and grown into something remarkable. Plus it comes with ice cream and
fireworks. It’s awesome.
The wonderful thing about 4th of July in Milwaukee is that in our own
local park within easy walking distance of our house there are events
all day. It begins with a parade and ends with fireworks, and in
between there is a doughnut eating contest and dog dancing and buggy
decorating and children’s races and clowns and a talent show and more
things than we ever get to. And the beauty of it is it’s all corny and
done without a trace of irony. It’s genuine and it’s fun and everything
you ever pictured a traditional 4th of July celebration should be.
(List of park events)
We’ve lived in our neighborhood long enough that we’ve come to expect particular things from the parade.
Regular features include the antique cars:
Soldiers (some with noisy guns):
Elvis:
Accordions:
What my husband refers to as the lazy band:
And many baton twirlers of varying ages, politicians throwing candy,
and of course the giant sausages. (What, your town doesn’t have giant
sausages of different ethnicities running around? Huh.) Usually we
only get a few of the sausages (who run races in between innings at the
baseball games at Miller Park) because I think they spread them out to
other neighborhood parades, but this year we got them all. Mona managed
to high five the Mexican one and this Italian guy:
After the parade I managed to lose Quinn in the crowd for about a minute that felt like forever (although not as bad as losing Mona in Central Park
a couple of years ago, or both the girls in Ikea, or Mona after the
school pasta dinner fund raiser…. Dang, I need to start paying better
attention apparently or get tracking chips put in their ears). Then
Quinn and I headed home so he could count his candy. (He made an
adorable chart on the dry erase board of how many Tootsie Rolls he got,
versus lollipops and ‘Frooties’ that I didn’t get a picture of in time.)
I love that with Ian home we can accommodate the kids better by
splitting up if we need to. The girls wanted to see the clown show and
run the kid races, so they stayed with their dad in the park while Quinn
and I walked home. 4th of July is definitely something that is easier with two parents.
After lunch we all headed back to the park to register Aden and Quinn
in the bike decorating contest. (Mona didn’t participate because she
uses a scooter, not a bike, and didn’t realize that no one would have
cared if she’d entered that instead until it was too late.) The good
things about the bike and trike and buggy decorating contest are that it
is adorable, every kid gets some kind of ribbon or certificate and a
little prize, and they are excited about getting to be up on the big
outdoor stage. The bad things are that the winners are always kids who
obviously had a LOT of help from their parents, and the older people who
run the judging are often tired and cranky. I could totally make the
coolest patriotic holiday bike ever, but the contest is not for me, and
I’m proud of my kids for doing everything themselves even if they never
ever win because the four-year-old’s bike looks like a four-year-old
decorated it (because a four-year-old DID).
Here are some of the bikes lined up for judging (with Aden’s front
and center, and a mysteriously well-constructed float-like bike just
behind hers in the next row):
Quinn looked so proud biking across the stage! His bike was ranked last but he was pleased to get a ribbon:
Aden paid attention to details like making sure her blue streamers were decorated with exactly 50 stars done in crayon:
But here was the kicker about Aden’s moment to participate in the
bike parade: She was not one of the top three winners, so after those
little awards were given out, the lady running things looked wearily at
the remaining kids and said something like, “Well, I guess the rest of
the girls should just come across the stage. There’s some kind of
consolation prize for you down there somewhere.” I couldn’t believe
it! And everyone else I talked to who heard it said they couldn’t
believe she was so dismissive of all the other kids either. The event
barely qualifies as a competition, it’s purely for fun, so why would you
make anyone feel bad? Good grief. Luckily Aden was happy with her
certificate and some of the little prizes in the consolation bag, but it
got both my husband and my neighbor, Julie, saying they really should
sign up with the neighborhood association so they can get in there and
move some of the crankier people aside during the kids’ events.
After the bike parade we headed home and hung out with some friends
and ate a bit of the red-white-and-blue-trifle I made the night before:
It came out pretty! And it tasted good, but you can’t really mess up
berries and whipped cream and cake, and I threw in some pudding
somewhere in there too. (I bought that trifle bowl years ago and I
think this is the first time I’ve actually dragged it out to make a
trifle in it. But it was a hit so we’ll probably do it again before the
summer is over.)
We had a nice cookout on the deck (that included grilled zucchini
which might be my new favorite thing) and then relaxed a little before
heading back out to the park to listen to a band on the stage, eat ice
cream, then lie on a blanket and watch the fireworks. In past years a
random sampling of my kids at any given time has been sensitive to the
noise (which has not always made fireworks a universally popular
activity) but they all seem to be over it. Frankly, I’m over it too. I
used to hate the noise and this year I noticed that it doesn’t bother
me anymore. Quinn sat in my lap and said things like, “That one looked
like jewels! And that one looked like sparkling rain!”
It was an excellent day. The only thing that might have improved it
would have been a nap in there somewhere. (And not losing Quinn
briefly.) I keep trying to sell my extended family on how much fun 4th
of July is in Milwaukee and that it would be the perfect time for a
visit, but no takers yet. I just hope they all had as much fun where
they were. (But I doubt it!)
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