The 4th in Lawrence

Before the festivities of the day all the grandchildren (except Alex) were watching Curious George, which comes on at 7:00 AM:

We then went to a Ward 4th of July breakfast with Kathleen and GR that morning,

and then the plan was to go to Bob and Diane's for the rest of the day. Once the fireworks arrived, GR was under contract to remain "on site." Kathleen thought the kids would enjoy the pool, which they did. Stella, however, ran into a couple of problems. First, she put on a life vest that has a "collar" which ideally would be attached to a strap that goes between the child's legs. Kathleen and Diane said they didn't use the strap because it caused chafing. But, when Stella wanted to go down the water slide, Diane worried that the collar--think of it like a shawl--would flip up and smack Stella in the head and frighten her, so she wanted Stella to get out of the pool, strap the collar down and then proceed. Something about that set Stella off and she was crying (howling) and wouldn't let anyone do anything to her life vest!

Eventually, she decided against the water slide and took the life vest off. She was playing in the shallow end of the pool; Art had Danielle in one arm and was about mid way in the pool; Mary Ann was in the pool in the deeper end beyond Art. Stella started moving toward Art and Mary Ann (mind you, all the Gordon-Ross children were in the pool at that point but Bob and Diane had gone inside as had Elspeth and her two girls) when I guess Stella crossed the point where the floor of the pool drops down. She started splashing, trying to keep her head above water. Seeing this, I called to Art, saying, "I think Stella's in trouble." He was able to reach her in a step or two and lift her with his free arm and help her out of the pool. Mary Ann told us later that Stella described that as "getting caught in the pool" and it was pretty scary to her.

After getting out of the pool, the children and I went into the play room, which was a complete dump. I asked the kids how that happened, and got the impression from Stella that she was responsible. I asked everyone to help put things back together. Becca, Emmie and Sam all declined, saying that they were not responsible. I told them it didn't matter: Grandma Mum wasn't responsible, either, and things should not be left for her to pick up. I also pointed out that they had each been at an age where they made a mess for someone else to clean up, and it wouldn't hurt them to be one to pick up now. Sam and Emmie "disappeared" early on, but Rebecca started putting the puzzles back together and stayed until everything was off the floor. I was really impressed.

As we were working, we looked up through the windows of the toy room and saw dark clouds and then rain. Rebecca said, "My Dad is going to be so bummed if it rains!" GR had to have a permit to shoot off these fireworks; the permit was for the 4th only. A second problem was that he did not have a permit to store fireworks. So, if rain prevented him from shooting them off, he'd have to drive back to Topeka and return them. I don't know if that was even an option. Anyway, Rebecca was concerned. I thought about it, and suggested to her that we have a prayer. "Explain all that to Heavenly Father," I said, "and ask Him if the rain could stop for the fireworks." Rebecca did just that. She offered a very simple and direct prayer. While I was still in the toy room, Rebecca went out to the kitchen and according to Kathleen, told her Dad not to worry: we'd had a prayer and everything would be all right. (Mary Ann said Rebecca was a little concerned that it was still raining at 5 pm and thought her prayer had not been answered.) By 6:30, the rain had stopped and people were arriving and setting up lawn chairs in the field next to Bob and Diane's house. Kathleen was busy cutting half-gallon boxes of vanilla ice cream into 16 squares and serving up root beer floats. She could feel mosquitoes dive-bombing into her forehead, and wondered why she wasn't a giant mosquito bite!

The fireworks lasted at least 45 minutes. About three times, I thought, "This must be the grand finale!" and then the show would go on. When everything had been done, GR asked everyone to remain behind the"line" and allow them to set off a couple of things that did not go off as planned, so there was a kind of "encore" to a very impressive show. It was every bit as good as the early days of Ellisville's fireworks.

One more item regarding Stella. GR gets fireworks for the kids which entertains them while they wait for it to get dark.

A group of children were chasing a parachute, and ran right over Stella. Mary Ann saw it; she saw the children stop, help Stella up, make sure she was all right, and tell her they were sorry. They told Mary Ann they were sorry. Mary Ann was satisfied that the children had done everything they could to handle what had happened in an appropriate way. When they brought the parachute to Stella, both she and Mary Ann were very impressed. When the sparklers were passed out, Stella had a great time with Grandpa Art helping her.

Danielle, who got no nap, fell asleep about as soon as the fireworks started. Stella enjoyed the show a lot, and didn't fall asleep until the drive home.

It's really different not to have Mary Ann, Stella and Danielle here. They are dedicated early risers--no sleeping in--not even after the late night of fireworks! And bedtime is otherwise strictly observed. Whatever you do, rest up for the Michigan trip. Be prepared to get up early and go to bed early!