An action-packed 4th

Mike and I decided to go all-out this Independence Day to celebrate the 4th of July. We started our day with a 5K race -- in the pictures above you can see us at the Assembly Hall at the beginning of the race. We walked the course in 42 minutes.

We felt pretty festive for the 4th of July, but not compared to the patriotic decorators of this lawn:
There's a bear in red, white, and blue and a Statue of Liberty, and a ton of red/white/blue bunting all crowded in to one little front yard. Nation -- we need more of this brand of patriotism.

After the race, we watched the big Champaign County parade.

There were three or four high school marching bands

Lots of floats (this one is for Urbana's 175th birthday)

A bunch of old guys in funny hats driving antique tractors

And more!

In the afternoon, we made some apple pie and vanilla ice cream to share with our friends, the Whipples, then we went with the Whipples to the big fireworks show in town. It was a really fun holiday!

Kailey Whipple, Melissa & Michael

P.S. As we were riding our bikes to the festivities on Friday morning we saw this yard ornamentation. There are birdhouses for Dick Butkus and Jim Grabowski and a gravestone that says: "Yo Chief Illiniwek 1926-2007." Chief Illiniwek was the long-time mascot of the University of Illinois. He was retired in 2007 at the request (demand?) of the NCAA.


You can read more about Chief Illiniwek and/or watch his last dance: