Trip to Iowa Day Four

Yep, today is the fourth of July...in Exira, IA that means the day starts with a shot at like 6am...and then the festivities downtown begin...as a child that meant getting up early and getting downtown to compete in the footraces in front of the school before the parade...as an adult it means getting up and making sure the food you should have ready for the potluck is made. So, I got up and made an AWESOME fruit salad for our meal later in the day...and kept eating bits of Grandma's yummy potato salad that she was finishing up. Eating a light breakfast and then walking across the field to the care center to watch the parade. This is the first year both sides of the family will be watching the parade from roughly the same place. For YEARS the Hays family watched it from near the school at the beginning of the parade...and the Littlefields watched it near the care center...more towards the end of the parade. Anyway, now that Grandma Hays is in the care center...we watched it there. Tim and I decide even though it is raining we will walk across the field...and it has been raining since yesterday...it is a light mist...but the ground is MUDDY...and we manage to get a thick clay like mud all over our shoes. Once we are in the grass we are able to get most of it off...but it is thick and takes a long time. Everyone who drives to the parade site actually arrives about the same time we arrive due to the traffic between here and there. We find our family sitting along one side of the parade route...we probably take up a half block! And...in spite of the rain, everyone is in good spirits. We meet some new editions to the family...John's wife and kids...and get to see our cousins from FL...Grandma Hays is sitting with the other folks from the care center in shelter from the rain and we swap out who can sit with her...we watch the kids dive for candy...and marvel at the fact that this is the only parade we know that hands out STEAK bits in a parade!

After the parade Tim and I walk back to get our fruit salad and then drive back to the care center to enjoy the meal with the Hays clan! We have a lot of the family in attendance...I think there are at least 29 of us...which is quite large. We eat...there is a great spread of food...fruits, veggies, desserts, salads (this year was the year of the grape/broccoli salad), seven layer dip, brisket, ribs, enchiladas....it was all really good. Then we take pictures...trying to line up as we once did...first by height, then by age...and then adding in the 2nd cousins...it is fun! Then we make the other adults do it too! Everyone is ready for a rest after that...and decide to meet up at the street fair later.

We head back to the Littlefields to play cards...multi person solitaire, watch TV and relax. A surprise arrives...Grandpa's Dodge Charger...pretty much refurbished to its former glory stops by...and we all admire it...it is looking incredible! I remember driving it when I was younger and it was lacking a floor...brakes were bad and it had many a trip through the corn field.

We head to the fair...it is still drizzling..but is better than the hot summer sun that normally beats down on us on the 4th. We meet up with our cousins and watch the kids ride rides...I am so sad...no Tilt-a-Whirl this year...but last time I rode rides I got sick...I had never gotten sick on rides before...this year I decide I am not going to risk it. So I just watch. Lynn rides...and everyone tried to get Zachary (Troy's boy) to ride some of the more scary rides! I discuss acquiring a Tilt-A-Whirl with my cousins Jason and Eric...we decide it would be a great investment...where to put it and how to get one are top on our minds.

We leave the fair to get back to the farm and get ready for fireworks...the temperature is dropping. In preparation for the heat I really haven't packed for cooler temperatures....so I borrow a pair of Grandpa's jeans to wear...and then our cousins start to arrive to to sparklers and prepare to watch the fireworks. It is so fun....we sit in a slightly different place because of the rain and mud...and the fireworks prove to be just as awesome as ever!

Everyone leaves...and we build a fire and sit outside under the stars...the rain has stopped and the moon is out in full...it is gorgeous. We sing and talk about the past...it is a great evening. Another memorable July 4th!