July had to start with a July 4th Parade... and Dad says, "Who was in the middle of the parade?" |
Forest Grove continued their annual fireworks display and we were here this year, so... |
Boom! Pow! Bam! (Actually Dad says that sounds more like an old Batman episode than fireworks, but what do you want for free?) |
Then we went to Tennessee for the big Shapard family reunion... |
Maria and I were working on our Lionel Richies down on the dock at sunset... (If you don't get it, watch some GMM or just go to http://www.jack969.com/2017/06/20/6-hilarious-lionel-richie-album-covers/) |
Look! No, not me in a kayak... Dad taking a picture of Mom taking a picture of me in a kayak... Now that is a typical family activity! |
Dad tried to capture every moment of our fun at the lake... |
Why am I the only one actually in the water? |
Dad says this is my Sea World impression, but I don't get it... Maybe if he were dangling a snack over my head... |
Let me draw your attention to Faith right in the middle of the picture - doesn't she look like she is trying to say, "these bars will never hold me!" |
You can tell this isn't one of Dad's pictures - Aunt Maggie is the one who believes in forced, posed photos |
We did get up to into the Smoky Mountain National Forest one day |
Where Aunt Maggie made us stand still and pose for photos... |
Dad, on the other hand, just waited for all of us to leave... |
Then he took a picture of Laurel Falls. |
And he got this scenic view of the Smoky Mountains on the trail down the mountain. |
Uncle Greg got us a boat one day while we were there... |
It was sad when we had throw Mom overboard... just kidding... it wasn't sad... I mean - we didn't throw her overboard... |
Don't say Dad doesn't take selfies... look at those knees! |
Dad finally went out on the boat too, but apparently only to take more pictures... |
We didn't see a lot of wildlife, but we did see this guy a few times during the week. |
Why did we think it would be a good idea to let Uncle Greg drag us around behind the boat? |
Here I am bonding with Cousin Dave... he's my hippie inspiration! |
I think Dad really had to work for this one... he even got the star reflection in the lake without having to resort to Photoshop.. |
I really took to stand up paddleboarding like a fish to water... that's me in the water... |
Eventually I did get it, and everyone had a good time trying them out... |
But Dad had to show off (if you look carefully though, you'll note that he is not dry...) |
He wasn't the only show off... Sun's out, guns out! |
And, of course, Dad had to play with camera settings... |
Makes for a pretty cool sunset though doesn't it? |
Of course, if you wait for the sunset then it gets harder to take portraits. We could add this picture to the old slides we looked at from when Mom was a toddler... it has about the right graininess... |
I had to take one last opportunity to "go jump in a lake" before we left Tennessee... |
Mom just can't help herself with the selfies... |
We didn't bother to get "I climbed Mount Dora" t-shirts (184 feet above sea level) |
We did drive the golf cart though! TC tried to remain calm... |
Mom did her best Aunt Maggie impression and made us pose for a family photo... |
We went to all the Squares this year... in Spanish Springs we grooved to the sounds of the 60s and 70s... |
While I was still in Florida, Mom and Aunt Maggie took Buttercup to the beach while Dad was down in California working... |
It is like trying to play "Where's Waldo?", but Dad did try to make it a little easier to find me... |
I know... Webster should just include my picture under the word "graceful"... |
We'll start with what everyone really wants to know... yes, the car is now in the shop for the engine (and brakes...) Maybe I'll really have it back in August... maybe even by Friday, but likely not...
This month's exciting fact... Florida has the lowest highest point of any state in the country. It is not Mount Dora. The highest natural point in Florida is Britton Hill at 345 feet. This is a full 103 feet lower than Ebright Azimuth in Delaware. Of course, this month's exciting second fact is that Ebright Azimuth is actually 2 feet lower than the trailer park across the street from Ebright Azimuth so the official highest point in Delaware is actually only the second highest point in Delaware...
What else can we talk about this month? Obviously July 4th is a big deal. As John Adams noted at the time: "The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more." That's right - we're celebrating the wrong day! Why? The Continental Congress voted to declare independence on the 2nd, but they signed the document on the 4th, right? No more likely it was signed on August 2nd...
Just another example of FAKE NEWS! OMG! We probably never actually declared independence - we're really still a British colony!
Three more July 4th tidbits for you...
When was the first time we celebrated July 4th instead of July 2nd? 1777 - that's right - the very next year we started with the wrong date.
When (and where) was the first official public July 4th event? 1783 in Salem, North Carolina as documented by the Moravian Church (there are no government records of an earlier celebration.)
What is the oldest continuous Independence Day celebration? The Bristol Fourth of July Parade in Bristol, Rhode Island held every year since 1785.
Anyway, most of the pictures are actually from the week at Douglas Lake in Tennessee, but enjoy the parade and fireworks first and then see what we did on vacation...