Friday, July 6, 2012

Independence Day

For the last year we've been avoiding family functions in order to avoid Lilli getting sick. Given her low birth weight [1] and the fact that she hasn't been gaining weight very well (due, in large part, to the fact that she's very active), we didn't want her losing weight because she was sick. But our main concern was RSV. Since RSV season is over, we decided to go to my extended family's Independence Day festivities. They were all thrilled to meet her. And, since she's quite the people person (she'll crawl into the laps of strangers at church), she was thrilled to meet them, too.


On the Third I went to balloonfest. It started at six in the morning so Leann and Lilli decided to sleep instead of coming along. It took nearly an hour for the first balloons to fill up enough that they could lift off. But then they all went up pretty quickly.


Later that day Leann called me while I was at work to inform me that a fire had broken out in Alpine and that the smoke plume could be seen rising up behind Mount Timpanogos.


On the morning of the Fourth we went to the Provo City parade. Lilli did pretty well. The only thing that really bothered her was the military jeep with a mounted gun that was making loud gunfire noises. But by that time she was pretty tired anyway. They didn't throw any candy and I notice that this was replaced by the kids throwing snappers at the floats. Nice trade off, Provo City.[2] The parade is much safer and more enjoyable, now.



Later we went to the booths on Center Street ("Freedom Festival") to get some lunch. On the way we stopped at a reptile show (top) where Lilli got to see her first real snake (a Boa constrictor, no less). We also saw some crazy games, including one where they zip you up inside a ball and let you run around in it while it floats on water (bottom). For lunch Leann had a deep-fried corn dog and I wanted some street tacos. Unfortunately, the first place I tried had a very slow-moving line. When I finally got to the front I discovered why. They had run out of meat, so the only thing they were still selling was cheese-filled pupusas.[3] But they were still selling them at full price despite there not being any meat in them. Furthermore, they would wait several minutes before telling the next person in line that they were out of meat. I ended up going to another taco stand and ordering some nachos (since they were a better deal than the tacos). By that time Leann and Lilli had given up waiting for me to get some food and went home.


After that we headed up to Layton to spend the holiday with my family. On the way up we got a closer look at the Alpine Fire.


At my Grandma's house we put Lilli in a swim diaper and let her play in the kiddy pool. She was quite thrilled. Even though she started getting cold she didn't want to stop playing in the water (or stop trying to eat the bits of grass floating around). For dinner we ate hot dogs and hamburgers off the grill, as well as choosing from green salads, fruit salads, and macaroni salads and a variety of chips. To drink we had lemonade or Independence Punch.[4] Surprisingly, Lilli ate almost everything I offered her. The only thing she had a little trouble with was the cantaloupe.


After dinner we had a 'kid's parade' with a circus theme. You'll see clowns, a lion in a cage, a fat lady, a bearded lady, and a strongman, among other things. Lilli had trouble going to sleep (things were just too exciting) so we went home early and she cried most of the way. Being strapped in to a car seat for an hour and a half is just no fun for a baby who is always on the go. We saw the Alpine Fire, again, only this time, since it was dark, it looked like lava streaming down the side of the mountain. We couldn't find the camera, so no photos this time. Once we got Lillian home she went right to bed and Leann and I watched the last few minutes of the Stadium of Fire fireworks through the dining room window and ate ice cream.


Notes:

[1] See my post Unexpected Delivery.

[2] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupusa.

[3] Learn how to make it at http://www.bigbearswife.com/2011/07/independence-punch.html.

[4] See http://www.freedomfestival.org/events/grand-parade/grand-parade-rules/.

4 comments:

  1. Sounds fun.
    And those are some rather good landscapes.

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  2. Very nice report! Glad to see Lilli is not so bashful like her mom.

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  3. @Jonathan,
    I tell you how you can make your own in this post.

    ReplyDelete