2010: 4th of July

What a wonderful weekend! I went to Charlottesville, VA this past weekend to see my mom and spend the holiday with my family. The trip was a total surprise for my mother as she had no idea that I planned on coming. When I strolled into my aunt's living room at 10 PM on Friday night, I can only say that the look on my mother's face was priceless. She literally jumped off the couch and caught me up in the biggest bear hug I think I've ever had.

On Saturday we all loaded up and headed into Scottsville, VA to see the 4th of July parade. Yes, it was the 3rd but in this small town, Sunday is still a day of rest and the volunteer firemen long ago decreed that if the holiday ever fell on a Sunday then the celebrations would be held on Saturday.

Don't let the map fool you ... I think the star representing the town might actually be bigger than the town itself.  Scottsville is the epitome of small town America -- one main street, no cell phone service, and a population of around 500 people (according to Google). But it's also peaceful and idyllic. It was nice to spend a day away from a world obsessed with iPhones, Facebook, and celebrities.

The parade was much as you would imagine --

led by the mayor,

 

 featuring bagpipe-playing men in kilts (my personal favorite!)

 

followed by quite a few firetrucks (with sirens!),

old cars,

middle-aged cars (???)

new cars, 

tractors,

 

t-ball teams and pageant princesses.

All in all, it was a great display of small town America with a heaping helping of USA pride thrown in.

L. and I, beating the heat with some frozen kool-aid pops

(notice I'm sporting my fave new shirt, courtesy of Piper!)

my mom and I

After the parade, we packed up our chairs and spent the rest of the afternoon with family friends, eating massive quantities of BBQ and splashing our feet in the pool.  

my cousin, A.

 check out that beautiful sight

L. was absolutely enthralled and decided that she MUST have this car.

On Sunday, my family hosted our own party and quite the crowd show up for some great food ... hamburgers, hot dogs, potato casserole, potato salad, two kinds of macaroni salad, cake, and peach ice cream. Nom. Nom. Nom.   

My cousins and I scrounged up a few sparklers and pop pop snappers. We finished off the night by seeing an amazing fireworks display hosted by the town at McIntire Park.

(image courtesy of http://george.loper.org/weblog/?p=1295)

On Monday, it was back to reality and time to head home.  My aunt and I geared up for the 622 mile journey home which we accomplished in a little over nine hours.  And although it was a great, great weekend, I was more than glad to be home in my own bed on Monday night.