Making Memories Monday: Celebrating Our Nation with a Neighborhood

 

Three-hundred and sixty-four days of the year, our neighbors go about their business, rushing from one activity to another in typical Northern Virginia hyperdrive, managing little more than a quick wave through the car window.  Every Fourth of July, however, the neighborhood slows down long enough to gather at the pool for a few hours to celebrate our nation’s birthday, to catch up on the latest news, and to really enjoy the variety of folks who make up our little corner of the town.  We eat, play, and visit until it’s time to head off to watch the spectacular fireworks show hosted by our town.  It is a much anticipated time with family and friends.  And so, after seeing Ryan and Grandma off to Webelos Camp this morning…

we packed our sun screen, goggles, and towels, and headed to the neighborhood pool.  For the first time in four years, the weather cooperated beautifully:  sunny with temperatures in the 90s and NO afternoon thunder showers.  (Until today, we were convinced rain was part of the Fourth of July tradition; it has rained every July 4th since we moved to Virginia!)

Each year, our Tuba-toting neighbor gets the festivities off to a proper start with a salute to our flag. 

Connor was worried that neighbor Jay might fall right off of the diving board into the pool while playing, but we assured him Jay has years of experience in leading the neighbors in the Star-Spangled Banner… always from the diving board… and always without incident!

And then, once Jay has safely cleared the diving board, THE GAMES BEGIN!  The Big Splash Contest (and those Dads do make some BIG splashes) and the Mini Splash Contest (in which the kids make some pretty impressive splashes themselves) are a much anticipated neighborhood tradition… one for which the Moms have learned to STAND BACK, way back!

Of course, no American celebration is complete without food.  We  chowed down on BBQ, hotdogs, salads, and watermelon, and then… check out these desserts!  The cupcake flag is a yearly tradition, but the adorable eagles were new this year.

To make your own eagles:  Dip a marshmallow into melted white chocolate and roll in coconut.  Place it on top of a chocolate-covered Oreo cookie while the white chocolate is still soft.  Add a cashew nose.  Once set, pipe on an eye and eyebrows with decorator icing.  They sound so easy, and yet they made quite an impression and garnered more than their fair share of compliments.  Now to find a reason to make them on my own!

After all that dessert, the kids have renewed energy for games.  I was in charge of the games for the elementary-set this year.  We laughed and splashed our way through a ping pong ball relay, a frozen t-shirt relay, and a couple of games of piranha ball, but the kids’ absolute favorite game:  melting balls of ice to reveal trinkets.  This was a game a friend and I played with our kids one summer about four years ago.  Surprisingly, my boys remembered the game and requested to play it at the pool party this year… and their friends were certainly glad they did!

To play, place several small trinkets into an deflated balloon.  Silly Bandz, costume jewelry, toy dinosaurs or insects, matchbox cars, and other such toys work well inside the balloons.  Once the toys are in the balloon, fill the balloon with water, tie, and freeze.  When the ice is frozen solid, remove the balloon and hand the ice ball to the kids who then float the ice in the water until the block melts and the trinkets are revealed.

We did this game during break time, so the kids were on the side of the pool while the adults watched from in the water.  The silly kids repeatedly asked the adults if the ice was making the pool colder yet!  They were actually trying to freeze the adults out of the water!

By the time the sun started to set, we were exhausted and ready to head home.  Our town did their fireworks on the 3rd this year, so we decided to hang out in front of the television to watch the fireworks in Washington, D.C. this evening.  Fireworks downtown with tens of thousands of others from DC and the surrounding area just don’t sound like a whole lot of fun to me… but the Fourth of July neighborhood pool party… well… we’re already counting the days until next year!

What did you do with your family to celebrate our nation and make memories with your family this Independence Day weekend?  Link up and share this or one of your other special memories for Making Memories Monday this week.