God Bless America!

So, Hunny and I were able to make it back to the states in time to enjoy Independence Day in the states! It was much better then trying to celebrate it in Korea. Hunny and his family have a tradition of volunteering to help set up and take down the barriers for the parade. I was a bit clueless to the whole thing but was very excited to help out. We arrived on the scene in Hunny's truck, that's been missed Very Much! and hooked up to a trailer full of barriers. We were assigned our route and with Hunny, V, Pops, stranger, and me on a moving contraption. We were spread out and each had unspoken tasks and when we stopped at the various points, we would jump to them. I was almost racing V to grab barriers from Pops and Stranger and put them up quickly, which is a good thing because as soon as we were done, we got the instructions to place the barriers in the road instead of beside the road. We were go go going and it was made even more fun to place the barriers in the road and laugh at the cars that couldn't use them anymore.

After they were all placed we got to sit and watch the parade, well except for Hunny. He got pulled into helping at the end of the parade. I got to watch with Lost Boy and his wife ShootingStar Child and daughter, Baby 2 Flowers, Baby X, and D4, J3, V and of course Mama K and GG. It was so fun to hang out with everyone. It was a bit warm so Lost Boy got the parachute and tied it up for some shade. A parachute? Of course a parachute. Doesn't everyone have one? They are very practical. The parade itself was mediocre. The cool things were that not only did they throw out some candy but one threw out Popsicles, old Shiners on Go carts, and a huge ship with the Peter Pan crew. Not sure how any of that has to do with Independence but it was entertaining.

Part way through I got beeped by Hunny to come down with the fellas and help pick up the barriers. Only D4 and J3 went with. We realized we were needed quicker then walking would get us and Hunny was a ways down, about a mile and a half. So we decided we needed to run... D4 did cross country in High School and J3 could very well have done the same with his physique and here I am outta shape and short legs. We go for a while but I quickly got wore out and discouraged and had to stop. D4 quickly picked me up and kept running. This was only SLIGHTLY embarrassing!!!! Poor guy, he is really sweet but with this heavy bum he couldn't go for very long. He set me down and I tried running again but while dodging greedy kids getting candy, I missed and sided a short and chubbier kid and ended up eating road. I tried to quickly get up to apologize to the kid but he was so focused on getting the candy he was pretty much unphased. Not what I can say about my knees... ouch....

We made it in time to help pick up barriers as the parade went by. But we all know how slow parades go by so there was lots of sitting and waiting. I would even get out and race ahead to bring them back. There was another truck and trailer on the other side of the road picking them up and I would walk over and share gummy bears with everyone. People watching the parade cheered us on and we had a good time. It was way fun.

That evening was, of course, fireworks!! We ran down to the Community Center and met up with some fam. There was more going on then just the main event. It was really a Community Center. There were so many people hanging out and playing with fireworks, well more like sparklers. Fireworks that explode or fly are prohibited so the selection is few and boring. Devon got some nice pictures practicing with his camera. I liked that he even showed me a few tips too. He got to practice with the fireworks. There were some fun ones and the finale was spectacular! We had a grand time.