Happy Fourth!

Happy Birthday America!! (okay---so the post is belated, and the party was early---works out alright, yes? ;-) )

Ahhh----Fourth of July. It's a time to celebrate our patriotism, our national heritage, and our individual liberties. (It's my blog; I get to espouse my opinion. ;-) )

Anyway, Fourth of July also means family to me. Huh? July 4th is a family holiday? Well, yes, it is. See, Dad hosts a July 4th party every year---for the last couple of decades, it seems---and it's a time I will do all I can to make sure I'm there. (I haven't missed it for the last thirteen years!) My sister and I both have on separate occasions analogized it to Christams---at dad's. In July? Yep. Or, depending on the calendar, as in this year, in June. (Being an offspring of divorced parents, this seems to work out well. Mom almost always gets to see me at Christmas, but Dad gets Fourth of July. No guarantees I'll always in the future make either, but there ya go.)

It's always a fabulous time. Lots of people---family, friends, folks from the clinic---buckets o' margaritas, cold beer, and for the last decade or so, my jello. :-) That's right---I make jello for the party. Okay, so some of the jello is just that: good ol' jello. And that's always blue or purple. Then there's the, eh hm, adult variety---could be green, orange, red, yellow---depends on what creativity has struck me that year. (When I have access to my full kitchen---and liquor cabinet---I can make some that are mighy tasty! Just use flavors of schnapps and jello as you would for a regular shot, and you can get quite creative! Using schnapps also gives it deeper flavor.) And even this year, with no kitchen of my own, I made jello. (Interestingly enough, my eight-year-old niece helped me out late Friday night. Hmmm---will she be the one to whom I pass this tradition? ;-) )

The party also include some yummy eats. Of years of late, it's been great BBQ provided by Dad. Lane makes beans, and now, Charla's signature contribution seems to be her yummy corn dip, and everyone else brings along a dish too. We don't go hungry!

So the afternoon is filled with swimming (the pool is full of kids), this year, a little frisbee, good eats, jello, always some great tunes (one year my brother-in-law's band came out and set up on the patio!), and in general, merriment.

Then there's the tatoos! Years ago (gosh---around 95?), I showed up to Dad's July 4 party, prantzed up to my father, and asked him to put a little sun-tan lotion on my back. He poked hard at my shoulder, and asked, "What's this?!" It was a tatoo! No worries---it was only temporary! And thus, a tradition was born.

The next year, I showed up not only with my own tattoo, but with extras to go around. And now, Dad orders up tatoos for the party and he, Doc, gets the honors of tattooing anyone who's so inclined. (Don't worry. Each person who gets a tattoo gets a small plastic cup o' jello---but of course!

Here's a silly shot of me and four of my nieces showing off our tattoos (the fifth didn't make it this year) (one of the girls selected the "scary cat" tattoo on my arm):

Here's a less silly shot of the five of us. Indeed, I love being Aunt Jana.


(It breaks my heart that the fifth niece's immediate family doesn't make a point of keeping her in contact with her extended family. And now, she's been moved to yet another school in yet another state. Let's just say that I so very much admire divorced parents who put the kids' needs and stability ahead of their own personal issues.

(Actually, I have learned not to even date a man who has kids in another city. In this day and age, you're able to restrict a child from being moved away from you, and if not, then you should follow the child and be involved in her life. period. --at least until the children are out of high school. Step up. Be a parent. Why would I want to date someone who doesn't take care of his responsibilities? That's not even a cautionary flag; it's a bright red flag waving madly in the air, warning me what sort of man he is.))

Back to the Fourth! :-) As the sun starts to set, we load up and head off to buy fireworks (if the party is held before the actual 4th. We learned the hard way one year that no fireworks can be sold after the actual 4th in Texas.) After everyone stocks up, it's off to the clinic to put on the display.


Frankly, I'm there just to watch and spend some time with family. I never did care for lighting firecrackers as a child, and that disinterest pretty much remains. I'm glad to see my brother-in-law teach his daughters how to do it---and to do it all as safely as possible. Although, the youngest, who at age eight still brings her ear covers, well, maybe she's got some of the same "don't mess with fireworks" gene as me. ;-) We'll see.

Here are some more shots from the day:



And of course Howard had a ton of fun! We also got to see my sister's family's dog Muffin as well as the newest addition to their famiy--Spanky. Here's Howard and Spanky checking each other out:


Of course, each year, the home firework displays get more and more grand. I'm amazed sometimes at the size of things you can get for yourself! And this year, we had a special grand finale: The Big Island.






After all the others were over, we all settled in for the best yet of our grand finales. (we're getting better and better at organizing things.) But it wasn't just The Big Island. Dad's newest hand Chris had his own grand finale. He and Dave lit the two in a cooordinated fashion, and we enjoyed the show. Hit the "Play" button below twice, and you'll share in our grand finale! No, it wasn't set to music like the big shows, but it's fabulous nonetheless! :-)

Once again, I say, Happy Birthday, America!


The fireworks were great! Sadly, the spirit and fun of the evening was dampened by one who (as does so, sadly, typically) over-indulged. It's one thing to over partake in the spirits, but it's another to be a jerk and obnoxious about it. Seriously, if you turn in to a jerk when you have too much, either don't have so much (or any at all if you, like this person, cannot stop himself), or stay home. No one was impressed with this guy's ramblings. And how sad that even the children made comments about how awful he was behaving.

It's kinda sad, but many of us do have those family members who we really just don't care to be around. Even more sad, it seems to be escalating more and more as of late. And when addiction is involved, it's even worse. Granted, I bit my tongue so much over the weekend, I'm surprised holes aren't still remaining. But I was reminded yet again that I need to take control of my well being, and thus I need to make a better effort to limit my contact with certain people---even if they are family. Yes, it's sad, but that's part of family in some unfortunate situations.

Sigh.

Okay---back to the good times!

As the weekend was wrapping up, Fourth of July at Dad's wouldn't be complete without our annual breakfast on the morning after the party at Cracker Barrel. We started going there years ago, and now it's just part of the tradition.

Here's a shot of Dad with my sister and me:



And of Dave and Molly at checkers---as we wait for a table big enough for our crew:



I've learned to look past the times that the one person mars fun with his behavior, attitude, or obnoxious drunkenness. And I can do so for the July Fourth celebration at Dad's that weekend too: the good times so very much outweighed the negativity. It was a fabulous visit with my father and with my sister and her whole family. And as always, seeing family friends like Montgomery and Clare (and Quinn) and Jerry (sadly, Theresa didn't make it), is wonderful! So at the end of the day, looking past any of the negative, for the good times---what a great weeekend!