Happy July 4th! Time to Celebrate!

Tuesday Samantha and Katelyn only woke at 7:45.  They had a great night's sleep.  They played on our I-Pads until we were ready and had the pancake breakfast on the table.  Ken and I enjoyed our egg breakfast.  While I cleaned up, the girls had a fun time taking a bath and Ken went to the Lititz Park to put a blanket and chairs in the area where everyone watches the fireworks.  It was 9:15 and he said the whole area was almost completely filled.  We found out later that people had stood in line at 4:00 AM waiting for the gates to open at 7 just to get their "special spot" - Crazy!

We played 4 games of Racko with the girl before leaving at 11:30 to go to Wal-Mart to buy them one of the new mini Minion characters.  They were excited to get their 1st ones from Despicable Me 3 movie! 

We all enjoy playing Racko!

Samantha, the bubble blower!

Oh no!  A slight problem here!  

Then we went to McDonald's to get them lunch (Ken and I decided to eat when we got back to the apartment!). They got a large Minion there with their Happy Meal  to add to their collection. We were a "hit" today!!!!!  Ice Cream only added to the time!

Lanie and Bob arrived at the Wal-Mart parking lot at 1:15 to pick-up the girls. We had such a fun time with them and they behaved so well.  Ken and I went back home and he was very tired after getting up at 4 AM this morning, so he took a nap while I made myself a salad for lunch.  

At 2:30 Dan and Jackie arrived and we drove down to the Lititz Park for the huge, annual 4th of July Celebration.  We started our time there playing Pinochle at a table in one of the pavilions.  When the Lititz Community Band was ready to play, we moved to the benches in front of the bandstand (it was 3:45) and we stayed in that spot until we headed to the field to watch the fireworks around 9:30. 

The Lititz Community Band is rather large and very talented!

A local Dance School did a program and they were excellent.
They are leaving tomorrow for a competition in Orlando, FL.

This was the 200th anniversary for the Lititz July 4th celebration, so the musical groups were very good and the fireworks to music and some narration about the history of Lititz were positively spectacular.  They even included lasers with the gorgeous fireworks.  Sorry, the pictures aren't great, but you can get the idea!

Quite a crowd waiting for the fireworks to start!

The very last fireworks also had fireballs that created
smoke rings!  Awesome!

The Queen of the Candles is another highlight each year where 12 girls who graduated from the Warwick High School Class of 2017 are nominated by their fellow classmates and then voted on by those same students.  When the queen is crowned she lights the 1st candle that is one of 7,000 that light the stream that runs through the park.  It is beautiful and a sight to behold.  I can't imagine all the work and planning that goes into making this event happen every year.

Getting all 7,000 candles lit is quite a job!

We were home by 11:15 after a long, but fun day at the park.  It was so nice to share it with special friends!