4th of July Picnic

"Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, 

but a son belongs to it forever. 

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

John 8:35-36

I've always loved the picnic part of the 4th of July, and even when I was young, like in grade school, I would be the one urging my family to go on a picnic, or have a picnic. in the past I haven't cared all that much about the home fire works, but of late I have been enjoying them. I've never set off a firework in my life. My grandson finds this incredulous.

The basic elements of a 4th of July picnic can include hot dogs, hamburgers, potato chips, potato salad, Boston baked beans, cole slaw, watermelon, brownies, chocolate cake, and ice cream. I think when I was a kid I remember things like bologna sandwiches and 8 ounce bottles of coca cola.

So I think that we will all be at my house tomorrow:

Molly and Riley
Annie and Corey
Sarah and Zac
Heidi and Christian and Emily

I could also invite Ken and Marilyn. All in all that would 11 of us.

I don't like to start the 4th of July picnic until late in the day. This is because the fireworks need to be when its a bit dark. I don't like arriving at 1:30, and then not having the fireworks until 9:30 at night. That's 8 hours!



Well we had a lovely 4th of July. All the people I mentioned came. The event didn't get started until well on to six. Sarah and Zac arrived first, coming maybe at 4:45, bringing strawberries and cherries. Then were a great help, Sarah helped with cooking, and Zac vacuumed for me. The next to come was Ken and Marilyn, bringing absolutely gorgeous little strawberries, freshly picked from their garden. By six fifteen I was getting worried about the rest of them, as it was only Annie that I had left the message with as to when the party would start. I got my phone and called Heidi. It turned out that she was just on the sidewalk in front of our house. They had waited for Emily to wake up, and then of course it takes a while to get everything together. Annie and Heidi brought potato salad, chips, salsa, and guacamole, which was really good.

Sarah had sliced up the cabbage for me, and then Emily hurried over to help me make the cole slaw. She is always eager to help me cook. I can hardly wait for the time when she can help and not suddenly throw the food. She watched as I put the ingredients for the dressing into a bowl, being of course eager to help stir. Then when I started adding the cabbage to the bowl she jumped right in to help, not understanding that I was not just throwing cabbage, but that I was actually putting it into the bowl. She was throwing it all over faster than I could collect it. But I eventually got most of the cabbage into the bowl, and then Emily helped stir it all up.

I also made my Texas Hold'm Brownies and strawberry shortcake, using Marilyn's strawberries. Emily, Marilyn, and I made the shortcake. It was a lesson for Marilyn in letting a toddler help in baking. We didn't have the strawberry shortcake until after the fireworks, about 10:30. Unfortunately Marilyn is not supposed to eat that late, so she didn't have any. I must have them over soon for early strawberry shortcake.


Marilyn also got a chance to play chess with Christian. However, I don't know if they were able to finish their game.

I don't have any pictures of our eating dinner, but we all had a very nice time. We only had four roasting sticks for the 11 of us, having misplaced the other four. However, there was no real problem. And after we all had hot dogs, many of us had s'mores. Unfortunately I was too busy doing something else, and I didn't get a s'more, so I'm hoping to have one soon.



At about 9:45 we all went out into the street to do the fireworks. It's so fun because so many families in the neighborhood are all doing the same thing. We had several neighbors join us at the street corner to watch the show. Christian did a very good job of lighting the fireworks. He was actually a very good boy today. He was more like the adult he is becoming. Not that he doesn't act like a boy a lot of the time.

You have to love a nation 

that celebrates its independence every July 4, 

not with a parade of guns, tanks, 

and soldiers who file by the White House 

in a show of strength and muscle, 

but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, 

the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness.  

You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.  

~Erma Bombeck