Ideas for a Successful Family Fourth!
Being mom to a 6 year old and nearly 4 year old, I have learned that a parade is by far the greatest activity for both me and my kids. For the kids, it’s pretty simple: a regular stream of candy being thrown their direction for over an hour. There’s also the cool trucks and cars, music, sirens, clowns, unicycles, floats, marching bands, balloons and dancers, but truly it boils down to one thing for my crew, and that’s the candy. Now, for me on the other hand, parades are great simply because they are free! There you have it, everyone is happy. I love parades.
Here's a picture of my youngest from the 2012 Ada Fourth of July parade, waiting patiently for the mother load of dum-dums and tootsie rolls.
It's widely known that Michigan knows how to party when it comes to summer festivities, and the Fourth is no exception. Pretty much every little community out there does something fun on the Fourth of July. Pure Michigan has a great event calendar that highlights many of the fun Independence Day activities including events at the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City, the 38-gun salute and soldier demonstration on Fort Mackinac on Mackinaw Island, and the 10th annual Fourth of July 'Celebration Freedom' event in Holland. Our friends at True North Trout have asked us to remind you all about the Boyne City 4th of July Festival, and we would love to hear about other great things happening in your neck of the woods. Please feel free to leave comments below.
Oooh... Ahhhh. This year, my hope is that my kids are old enough to enjoy the fireworks, so we are planning to head to Downtown Grand Rapids in the evening for their spectacular fireworks display. It is possible that with fireworks entering the picture, parades might get surpassed as the greatest activity ever, but that remains to be seen. Either way, Fourth of July will be a wonderful day with my family. If you're hoping to watch the fireworks check out this super list of fireworks displays in Michigan.
The final icing on the Fourth of July cake is having the right look. That means you need to start shopping now for anything and everything red, white and blue (note Logan's look above). Decorate your bike, your car, your porch, your campsite, your children and your pets. I want flags in every hand and proudly displayed on every flag pole, and we need every car out there rocking the all new American Flag Great Lakes Proud Sticker! After all, the bumper sticker was the original form of social media - so in one beautiful sticker, let the world know that a) You love America b) You love the Great Lakes c) You aren't afraid to show it and d) you have really good taste in stickers. They are in limited quantity and only available online, so pick one up today to get it in time for the Fourth.
Finally, from your friends at Great Lakes Proud, have a wonderful and safe Fourth of July holiday! We love America. We love the Great Lakes. We are NOT afraid to show it! God Bless America!