This year’s July 4th fireworks were out at the the Circuit of the Americas stadium instead of the usual Ladybird Lake, due to construction at Auditorium Shores.  We didn’t feel like staying up late to watch fireworks in a stadium on the outskirts of town, so we skipped the fireworks and opted for the neighborhood parade in the morning instead.

The parade was a funny mix.  It started with a few active soldiers from Camp Mabry, followed by some Civil War guys in Union blue, then some WWII units in real halftracks (wow) heading down the street.  They were followed by families in old cars and local businesses throwing candy to the kids.  The kids made off with a pile of candy, like a mini-Halloween in July.  Once the parade passed, the crowd fell in behind and headed to the nearby park to enjoy some ice cream (gelato, actually), lemonade, and just run around and play.

Molly was feeling fitfully patriotic and wanted to bring her “America flag” to the “America Day” parade.  Claire was mainly happy to see several of her school friends who she hadn’t seen since school let out for summer.  I was feeling patriotic myself and made a comment about how America is such a big, diverse country with so many different kinds of people and places, and it somehow all just fits together right.  Nobody cared about my moving comment.  Still, it was a good time and a lot better than sitting in a Formula 1 stadium with two sleepy kids.

In the afternoon, I headed off to work like mad on my next app, which I am trying to nail down with a few days off this week.  So Kit had the kids to herself for a quiet July 4 evening.