Fourth Of July Fun

The birth of a nation is a time to celebrate with family and with friends. Our neighorhood has a sunrise flag raising ceremony with a potluck breakfast. It's a great way to begin the festivities of the day and to keep the neighbors friendly for another year.

Potluck breakfast can consist anything from blueberry muffins and juice to the whole set up of pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs and coffee or juice. It just depends on what the neighbors want to bring and how many will be there.

We corner the block off and begin cooking on the grills while the kids set up the tables, chairs and fixin's. We are lucky because we have a Boy Scout in our midst and let him do the honors of presenting the flag while the Star Spangled Banner plays. He leads us in the pledge of allegiance. This not only helps him in scout duites, but it gives the children the opportunity to see the adults in action as we place our hands over our hearts and pledge our allegiance to our great stars and stripes.

Once the flag is in place, we dive into our breakfast. There is always plenty for all, no one will go away hungry. This takes all of an hour in the morning. We leave the tables and chairs up throughout the day for the intended barbeque in the evening. We usually have a few more attend this event since many neighbors bring their family and more friends they've spent the day with. Once again, it is a potluck dinner. We bring our own meat and a side dish to share.

After the festivities of the day it is a pleasure to sit on our lawns and watch the fireworks that our city provides.

It's a great nation we live in and I want my children to know how proud we are and how special the Fourth of July is to us.

I couldn't sum it up in words better than those expressed by my five year old as he graduated from kindergarten last week. He was asked what he wanted to be when he grows up. His simple response brought the house down. "I want to be a soldier, so I can fight for my country!"

What more can I add, than that of a simple child's wish.

(For more great ideas go to a place chock full of great family ideas and MSN has a great fourth of July article every parent should read.)

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