On Thursday we headed to Tooele, Utah for my Uncle Karl's huge 4th of July celebration. We stayed at Holiday Inn Express right next to the Wal-mart and enjoyed a fabulous night of sleep before the big parade and party. Andrew loved the dark hotel room and finally had a good night!!
We woke up early Friday morning and said goodbye to Kevin as he headed off to get ready to be part of the 4th of July parade in Grantsville and Tooele. Later in the morning, Andrew and I walked w/ my mom and grandparents to get our chairs set up along Main Street so that we could watch the parade.
Sleeping through the parade
Some of Karl's WWII vehicles
Smith clan riding in Karl's WWII half-track
(Dad, Kevin, Scott & Cat, Jessie, Elise & Dan)
Our favorite float of the day :)
Hanging out with Grandma Julie at the parade
Enjoying holding his candy (definitely Mama's boy :))
As part of the afternoon fun, we headed over to watch the Tank Squash (Crush). We got some great video footage that we'll try to upload later. Karl's tank completely destroyed a Honda Prelude. It was awesome to see it climb over the car and mutilate it.
After the parade and tank crush, we had some down time and then later in the evening we headed over to Karl's military museum for a delicious dinner catered by Goodwood BBQ. A 1940s big band played and the Andrews Sisters sang while we checked out all the military vehicles and ate our dinner.
Mommy's little firecracker hanging out with "Redneck by choice" Aunt Elise
Andrew visiting with his two great grandmas
Playing with Aunt Jessie
Eating dinner w/ Grandpa Kim
Kevin with the tanks
Flame leaping buffalo
Riding up on Uncle Scotty's shoulders
After dinner and the flame leaping buffalo show, we settled into our seats to watch some of the most amazing fireworks we have ever seen. The show was over an hour long and people from several nearby towns came and parked outside the "private party" security entrance to come and watch. From where we sat we could see fireworks in Grantsville and several other nearby towns as well. It was beautiful!
Scott and Cat enjoying the fireworks
Andrew's first fireworks! He loved the bright colors and loud booms!
Smith clan watching the fireworks
We feel so fortunate to live in such a great country. It was fun to celebrate the 4th with some of the incredible veterans (including my Grandpa Brown) who served during World War II and helped preserve the freedom that we now enjoy. Happy 4th of July!
3 comments:
holy cow. your uncle doesn't mess around with his july 4th! that looks like tons of fun!
All of your Utah vacation sounded like fun, but your 4th of July celebration was out of this world!! How cool!!! How are you going to return to your normal life back in CA?? See you soon!
Clearly, we were in thr wrong place for the 4th, as no buffalo jumped through a flaming hoop for us.
The best part of this post, however, is the probably-overlooked parade float: Abstinence=Independence. Classic.
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