We kicked off our Independence Day celebrations last night, with the town's fireworks. We watched them from a different location than usual this year, and the girls wound up playing with some of their best friends until the fireworks show began. Madeleine was offered a plethora of glow sticks by her bestie, which she used to adorn herself:
Once the fireworks began, Madeleine offered a play-by-play commentary for everyone around us. She came up with names for the various types of fireworks; for instance, "sparkle-burst," which describes the fireworks that continuously fizzle and sputter from the ground up into the air.
An example of Madeleine's running commentary:
MADELEINE: Ooh! Red! Oh, that one's orange. I don't like the orange ones. Sparkle-burst! Sparkle-burst again! This is QUITE the sparkle-burst!
We got home at nearly 10pm, so it was a late night for everyone, but the girls were able to sleep in a bit this morning.
To celebrate Independence Day today, we headed out to the town parade and survived the sweltering heat sitting in the blazing sun along the sidewalk curb. Madeleine eventually got too hot in the sun, so she and I moved to the shade on the other side of the street and stood behind the seated onlookers.
Various musical ensembles went by, from marching bands to a steel drum ensemble to jazz combos. As one jazz group paused in front of us, I discovered that Madeleine and I had an extremely different reaction to what I thought was pretty great music coming from the float.
MADELEINE: I don't like jazz.
ME: You *don't*?
MADELEINE: It's too CLASSY.
I immediately texted Ethan, who was across the street with Julia in the sun, to let him know of Madeleine's egregious statement. Here's the summation of our text convo:
Madeleine herself expressed disdain for many of the parade participants, mainly because so many of them dared to shout out, "Happy 4th!" at us as they went by.
MADELEINE: Why do people say "Happy FOURTH?" It's "INDEPENDENCE Day."
ME: Well, you can call it the 4th of July too.
MADELEINE: But it's "INDEPENDENCE day." It's not called "FOURTH." People should NOT be allowed to say that.
Yeah, folks. STOP calling it the fourth. How dare you sully our country with your ridiculous notion of referring to the holiday by its more commonly used nickname rather than calling it by its PROPER title??
After the parade ended, we went home for a few hours before heading to the pool to cool off. However, the time at home was not ill-spent. We put on our AMAZING Independence Day Assembly!! Madeleine had decorated for the event and written an acrostic poem:
North
Aweseomeley-amazing!
Magnificent
Educational
Ridiculosly excellent
Incredible
Crazy good
Affirming
I guess this applies not just to the United States, but to all of North America?? If you live in South America, however, you LOSE OUT.
Julia, Madeleine and I performed Madeleine's song and dance number and IT. WAS. EPIC. Let's just pretend you don't see my accidental flashes of underpants while I flail around doing dance moves, K??
After the dance, Mr. America, who you saw appear at the end of the video, gave an educational lecture about the United States:
Madeleine had no tolerance for the length of his facts. She made frantic "Wrap it up!" signals at him after about 30 seconds of lecture.
After Mr. America's speech, we female Rowes all sang "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Then it was time for a quiz show! Ethan asked us trivia questions about America and we had to bang a cup on the table if we knew the answer. Madeleine got super upset because the questions were too hard for her and she was getting everything wrong.
Example:
ETHAN: In what century were women given the right to vote?
ME: (banging my cup)
MADELEINE: (banging her cup)
ETHAN: Madeleine?
MADELEINE: Um...the 18th century?
ETHAN: Wrong.
Luckily, Ethan was able to change tactics quickly and ask questions like "How many states are in the union?" and Madeleine made a comeback.
The rest of the day took place at the pool, where -- EXCITING NEWS! -- Julia FINALLY got down the dinky slide!, and Ethan is now setting up the grill to make us a bbq dinner, so I'd say we managed to pack in a LOT of activity on this Independence Day. Yeah! 'Murika!
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