4th of July Contest 2008
During July, the Independence Day Contest accepted stories, traditions and memories as entries.Karen Hayden won a 4th of July Silk Holiday Photo Album. Contest ended at midnight July 31st. Congratulations, Karen Hayden, for your winning entry!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Amber on -
When I was a little girl every 4th of July we would drive 3 hours up to the coast. We would stay in a campground. Every year they would have a parade and my dad would help me decorate my bike and I would ride my bike in the parade and then they would have a big fire works show and we would get to do sparklers! :-)
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Permalink Reply by Kristin Shuman on -
My husband, Justin, has two younger sisters. One of them lives in Wichita, KS, so we only get to see her once a year, at the 4th of July. Every 4th of July, we get together at Grandma Shirley's house, with the three siblings, spouses, and six grandchildren. The children are: 13, 6, 5,5,4, and 3. Well, beginning in 2006, Shawnee, my sister-in-law in KS, began buying the Old Navy 4th of July flag T-shirts for all 6 grandchildren, and we took a picture. This also happened last year, and this year, Cheyenne, my other sister-in-law, in VA, bought the shirts, and even included all the grownups. This will be a tradition for the Shuman family for years to come.
Kristin Shuman
Pickerington, OH
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Permalink Reply by Angie on -
When we lived in Texas, we would get together at my cousins house and swim and eat and swim more. Now, in Colorado, we attend the city's community fireworks show at the park. Here my kids, sitting on a skateboard, waiting for the show to start....
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Permalink Reply by Karen Hayden on -
I am from a firefighting family. My Mom's father was a fire chief who died fighting a fire when my Mom was 12. Other family members were/are firefighters or work for fire related companies. When I was growing up, on each 4th of July, my Mom got all 5 of us kids out of bed at the crack of dawn to go to the firehouse, which had been named in memorial to my grandfather. Most of our extended family, friends, and neighbors joined us as we all headed to the firehouse to ride the firetruck around the neighborhood as many times as Mom would let us. Then we would all sit together on the sidewalk and enjoy a snowball (or as you northerners call a "snow cone"). Each year, my Mom would make all of us kids (including all the cousins and neighborhood kids) stand in line, by height, in front of the firetruck. She would take her annual "4th of July Firetruck photo" of us. When you look at the photos from all those years side by side, it is fun to see how much taller we all got and to see the new faces that were added to the photos over the years. Now that my siblings and I are all grown, we have continued this 4th of July tradition. We drag our own kids out of bed ride the firetruck and take our own "4th of July Firetruck photos." I live out of state now and my local fire department doesn't do rides on the 4th of July. So, I changed the tradition a bit with my 2 kids. This year, we made a flag cake and some homemade thank you cards for the firefighters to show appreciation for their courage and the job they do in the community. We brought these treats to the firefighters and then took our annual "4th of July Firetruck photo." I am excited to continue this annual tradition that is now in its 3rd generation!
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Permalink Reply by Cari on -
Every year since our children were born, we have celebrated the 4th of July with our very dear friends in Tupelo, MS. Their children are the same age as ours - all boys, two 8 year olds, 2 six year olds, and one two year old!! We will have a cookout and swim the whole weekend. When we return back home, we sit out in our neighbors driveway and watch the husbands play with the fireworks for our children and the neighbors.
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Permalink Reply by Dana Moler on -
The Moler family always attends a neighborhood block party where we have a parade, potluck, pie and watermelon eating contests, water balloon toss competition and play lots of games like catch the flag and volleyball in the street. The highlight is always decorating Thomas' "ride" for the parade and wearing our homemade 4th of July hats!
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Permalink Reply by Kelly Bunge on -
This tradition started a few years ago, when our family was feeling a bit separated. My mother-in-law is the camp director for the local Boy Scout camp (which is about 1 1/2 hrs away), so she spends the entire summer living alone at the camp, whilst my father-in-law holds down the fort here at home. My husband and I decided we'd combine our WI Dells trip with doing something nice to bring everyone together, so we organized what is now our annual 4th of July camping trip up to the Scout camp. Dad, my husband, the kids, and I all pile into our vehicles and head up to the lakeside camp with our gear for an overnight trip. Although Mom isn't really that far away in miles, it's hard for her to be away from everyone for 3 months straight. As the holiday provides her with a bit of a break from the kids under her watch there, she is able to spend some time with us when we go up there, and she really looks forward to this every year. We go up after my husband's done with work, and only stay the one night, but we try to cram as much as we can into that one night and the next day! We go out for a nice dinner, have a campfire and S'mores, watch fireworks off the lake, go fishing, hiking, swimming, and just spend as much quality time as we can in that small window. It's become a tradition that everyone in the family looks forward too now!
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Permalink Reply by Cherie Rodriguez on -
Our family has always been "Hooah" for the Armed Forces. When I see pictures of family members serving our country, I can think of no better place to place these photos...everyone from my Army great-great grandfather, to my Marine grandfather in WWII, My Navy father, to my Army husband in Iraq twice, Aghanistan, Granada and Panama. I have put together an album treasuring there dedication and sacrifice to this wonderful and blessed country of ours.
It has become not only a treasure for our family, but I have been able to share this tradition with other military families through volunteering in our Army Family Team Building at conventions showing them how to preserve their family history in the same meaningful way.
I find myself blessed to share our families history and tradition with the many military families out there who so unselfishly give themselves, their family, and their lives to this Country of ours.
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Permalink Reply by Christine Edwards on -
When I was growing up my parents divorced when I was only 3. They moved away each other and we only saw our father in the summer for a week or two. My twin and I always loved the 4th of July because we knew we would see our dad and he would take us up in the mountains to Gunnison Colorado so we could see our cousins. We have an aunt and uncle and loads of cousins up there. We would spend the whole week prepping to go to the University football field for the concerts and fireworks show. We would also spend the day at the local 4th of July Rodeo. My father and my uncle set up the sound system every year at the rodeo and helped put on the fireworks display. It was wonderful. To this day my Colorado family still does the same thing.
I am in Alaska now and have started our own traditions. Every 4th we start the day by going to the local parade then taking the kids for hot cocoa at the local espresso cafe. They always get white chocolate cocoas. Then we have a bbq and invite all of our co-workers and friends and our children's friends. Our first year we had almost 60 guests and everyone asked us to do it again and we have for the last 4 years. I think our friends have turned it into a contest to see who could bring the most unique salmon dish. It's fun. We finish the day up attending the local fireworks show that starts at 11:30 pm. It still isn't dark outside, but dark enough to see lights. That lasts about an hour, then we go for icecream and head home to bed.
Every year, the same thing. It is wonderful to see the kids get excited in early June, planning everything. Our son has even pronounced himself as the family "equipment manager" and he is responsible for all the lawn chairs, water bottles and umbrellas. He is only 11, but he takes great pride in preparing for the events. Our daughters handle the invitations and help cook. My husband runs the grill and we just all love being together.
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