Good Ol' Days

Even though the calendar says the first day of summer isn't until June 21st, it's officially summer here the first weekend in June. Our annual Good Ol' Days celebration kicks off Friday evenings with a parade, in which my kids rode with their dad in his deputy cruiser, leading the parade along with a PD cruiser. To clarify, it's not like the Rose Parade, hee hee, but everybody has fun. Anyone can enter the parade, so you see a lot of pick-ups with tons of kids in the back, tractors, and of course fire trucks, antique cars & trucks, etc. One year some teens built a pirate ship facade onto a pickup truck and they were all dressed like pirates.  And of course it wouldn't be Good Ol' Days if it wasn't hotter than a firecracker and stormed at least once. Last year we had Dock Dogs as the main attraction, and this year we had a lumberjack show. It was so hot and my back was hurting so bad, we didn't really watch it. The big draw for the boys was a huge military helicopter parked on the grass at the fort that they could go inside of. There were some jeeps and a display of gear from each war. I felt so sorry for those guys that were dressed in that vintage gear. Saturday the heat index was 100 :( 

I'm thinking it's going to be a HOT summer this year. I don't know that it's a scientific fact or anything, so feel free to do your own research, but the lightning bugs (fireflies) are out early by at  least 3 weeks. Typically you see a handful here & there at this time of year, but they are out in force already this year. Wednesday night after Tucker's baseball game we went by sonic to get shakes (buy one get one free right now!) and we took a little drive to see the storm that was coming in. As we came around past the cemetery and onto the what used to be called the Lake Road but now has some stupid 911 name...I digress...anyway, out over a pasture there were thousands of twinkling lights hovering in the tall grass. Of course I was instantly mesmerized, and completely blocked out my children's requests for napkins. That should have sparked something since they think that napkins are superfluous due to the fact they have shirtsleeves, but I was oblivious. Wish I could tune out their arguing as well!

But the fireflies! I could sit and watch them for hours. I've mentioned this before, but I never saw them growing up in California. They fascinate me! We always went to Disneyland a couple of times a year, and one my favorite rides was (and still is) Pirates of the Caribbean. Yep, they had fireflies in there in certain areas that mimicked bayous, and I remember that my mom and I would always linger on the way out to look at them a little more. I think they had some outside of the Haunted Mansion, too, and maybe in a couple of other areas in the French Quarter section. Disneyland is the one thing I really, really miss about California...that and In-N-Out Burger   :)