Independence Day 2018

We celebrated Independence Day in Independence, where else?? In the morning we went to the parade and saw all the usual floats and antique cars and tractors, but this Mad Max-style car caught my eye. It broke down a couple blocks into the parade route, hence the few close-ups. I expect to see steel spikes welded onto the front of it next year:

We went back to the Conrads to cool off afterwards (it was hotter than blazes all day) and brace ourselves before going back out. There wasn't as much going on that afternoon as usual, probably due to the heat. The airport wasn't doing plane rides this year due to a change in ownership, so hopefully they resume next year. Emily was blowing some pretty rad bubbles while we were cooling off:

For lunch we grilled burgers and dogs and then went back outside. Even though the heat index was 105, it actually felt comfortable once we started playing in the water:

The Pork Tornadoes played their first show in Indy, they were fun to see. It almost didn't happen due to the random rain showers that kept passing through, but then it cleared up and the temperature dropped nearly 20 degrees! 

Waiting for the fireworks show!

Happy Independence Day 2018!

Independence Day

For the Independence Day weekend we went up to Independence a day early so that we could leave off the girls and go on a date. We saw Jurassic World, which was awesome, and then came back and sat around the fire in the backyard.

In the morning we went to the parade along Main Street. Independence actually pulled off a better parade than the Freedom Festival parade (way to go small town!), although there could have been fewer tractors in the lineup. It used to seem so weird to see farm tractors in a parade, but it almost seems normal now, heh.

Some kids who sat next to me:

Now that's a snow thrower:

Hey, it's Joe Winters!

Can you see Emily?

After the parade there were some bands playing in the park along the river and small plane rides (see previous post), so we skipped the music and went on a plane ride. Later in the afternoon Rose and I went to the Wapsi and skipped rocks for a while and watched the water going over the dam. In the evening we watched the fireworks: