Sunday, July 5, 2015

Boom! Boom! Happy July 4th!

This weekend of celebrating is flying by fast!  I've crammed a lot in these past few days and I wanted to blog about the 4th of July before it's the 5th!  Jack came home today from Boy Scout Camp and I'll give him some blog time next week...but welcome home Babe! We missed you!  Because the 4th is today, a Saturday, I had Friday off work.  So Thursday I started celebrating with Addy as we made my annual star cakes. 
Addy put on her apron and went to work on decorating them. She looks so serious here!
Final results! Mmmmm!  As soon as we were done I took off for the park to listen to a John Denver tribute band.  Every Thursday and Sunday we have free concerts in our park and I just love John Denver and this band...The John Adams Band...did a great job!
We have a wonderful band shell and you can either sit in the seats provided or bring a chair or blanket and sit on the lawn.  This weekend we've had perfect weather for our Balloon Fest and Bicentennial celebration here in Ashland.  It's been pretty crowded around these parts! Glad I could go and enjoy this freebie concert!  Friday morning Addy and I delivered the cakes to some friends and she stayed with her other Grandma and I headed out for a nice walk in the cool morning air...ahhhh.  The rest of the day was spent working on our deck....power washing it,  cleaning furniture,  painting wicker, and many other things.  I knew I'd be on call today and I tried to get as much done as possible.  I did get called out this morning early but finished in time to hit the big parade downtown.  It was 2hrs long!  Bicentennial celebrating along with our annual Hot air balloon festival made it a jam packed parade route! Here's some highlights:
Big guys in little cars.
Small guy on big bike!
Old classic cars.
Nothing better than men in skirts! Especially if they play bagpipes!
Guys in costume
Balloons representing Ashland as the balloon capital of the world.
The Budweiser Clydesdales...they were the talk of the town for the week and a big draw at the parade.
Ashland is a college town and here is the University's mascot..Tuffie
Many floats (there were 135 of them!) represented our Armed Forces and those who serve our country or who have served.  We are so proud of you all who sacrificed so much for our freedoms.
The Vietnam Veteran's float had our good friend Greg on board.  (The one on the right in green.)
I was impressed that Greg wore his jacket from his service in the 60's...I don't think I could even wear my shoes from that time....way to stay in shape Greg! Thanks to you and to all who serve....Happy July 4th...God Bless America!

9 comments:

selvageedge said...

Great parade pictures. HUGE parade! Tom took our kids and they came home with tons of loot. Perfect weather for the whole weekend. :)

Shady Del Knight said...

Hi, dear YaYa! Thank you for showing us highlights of this year's 4th of July festivities. I'm delighted to learn that the weather cooperated. Glad Jack and the scouts made it back home safely with a thousand new memories in tow. Addy did a fine job of decorating that batch of star cookies. She deserves an "Addy award." Thank you for explaining all those people marching with huge bundles of balloons on their backs. I thought I was looking at the Mummers Parade! :) I didn't know that Ohio, Ashland, is the balloon capital of the world. You inspired me to do some Googling and I read the article about Eagle Rubber Company, later known as Hedstrom Plastics. I wonder if Polythene Pam worked there. :) It certainly is impressive that Greg's old uniform still fits perfectly. What a perfect day for a parade and Balloon Fest as your town celebrated its Bicentennial along with Independence Day. Have a great week, dear friend YaYa!

gin said...

You always have such full of fun holiday activities!

Cindy said...

Looks fun!! Who knew, balloon capital of the world! Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend!!!

betty said...

You did do a lot!! Those cakes you made were cute :) That parade looked fun; I can't imagine all those floats, lots of great effort went into it!! Sounds like you all enjoyed a wonderful 4th of July!

betty

Nonnie said...

Our kids would love all those balloons. Star cakes! How cool and how fun for Addie. Looks like a great 4th of July parade. We watched fireworks, hung our flags and that is about it, other than going to church.

Julia said...

You impress me in the way you go about celebrating the 4th of July.
It looks like a lot of preparation and I'm glad you had some help decorating the star cakes. Great parade and I love that Ashland is the balloon capital of the world.

Take care and have a great week.
Hugs,
JB

Kim said...

That's a huge parade. Impressive! I want one of those star cakes. They look delish

Susan Anderson said...

A small town 4th of July is the very best of all. Nothing quite like it.

=)