My favorite time of the year is summer, and my favorite big event day is Independence Day. I’m such an 18th century Patriotic gal at heart, I love to decorate everything in red, white, and blue!
Patriotic Decor
I play all my Colonial Williamsburg Fife and Drum Corps throughout the house, all day long, while I’m preparing for our festive meals.
Setting the tone for Independence Day, we took turns reading parts of the Declaration of Independence, just like we’ve read about in several of our favorite books. That really put us in the mood with a smile on our faces!
George M. Cohan’s Yankee Doodle Dandy
As fans of George M. Cohan, we spent the afternoon watching Yankee Doodle Dandy. We love his story, wonderfully portrayed by James Cagney, who was a dance man, himself, on vaudeville and Broadway.
Joining the tapping of George M. Cohan routines, the rain gently splatted against the windows.
Grilling Dinner in the Rain
Nevertheless I managed to pop in and out of the house to grill the ribs, while making a pasta salad with veggies and herbs from the garden.
I grill ribs with only the rub mixture, to keep the flames down. The delicious BBQ sauce is served on the side.
As the sun came out, birds splashed in water that dripped from the eaves. Meanwhile we ate the most delicious ribs and freshest salad we can remember.
Hand-cranked Ice Cream a Family Tradition
Now that the sun was behind the trees, it was time to hand-crank some chocolate chip chocolate ice cream! Chocolate chips are added after the churning.
Backyard Relay Races and Patriotic Recitations
After the ice cream was set in the freezer, we played various relay races in the backyard, like running with spoonfuls of water from the bucket to a glass. That was hilarious!
Then someone suggested we take turns reading patriotic poetry from my stack of books on the coffee table, and the first selection chosen was the Declaration of Independence!
Fireworks
As the sun started to set it was time to walk up the hill in the neighborhood for our favorite fireworks show in the area where we can simultaneously watch shows from SeaWorld, Hyatt Hill Country Regency, and far away towards downtown.
Actually the kids groaned. As much as they wanted to see the fireworks, they also wanted to squeeze in one more poem! I love it!
As we walked up the hill in the rare delightfully cool evening, storm clouds billowed in the far distance, prodigiously towering in the sky with varying shades of white and grey while blue skies tried to peak through.
After watching the sun slowly sink in the distance, fireworks brilliantly exploded across the Texas night sky.
After the last poof I was sad that my favorite day of the year had culminated. At least we were only half-way through summer, my favorite season.
And our trip to Colonial Williamsburg would soon begin.
