Hanging with Hamilton on Independence Day

Disney single-handedly saved Independence Day weekend! Just when the country was down about no public fireworks (unless you live near Washington D.C. - go figure), Disneyplus announced they were releasing the movie recording of Hamilton with the original cast.

The movie was originally suppose to be released in theaters in October 2021, but instead of delaying it (like what is happening with most movies), they decided to bump it up and make it available to all Disneyplus subscribers. It began streaming on July 3rd. The Hughes went all out and made it a Hamilton-themed viewing party.

 They had food puns to go along with many of the songs or settings from the musical such as: "You'll be  (baby) Back" ribs, New York Cheesecake, "Glass to Freedom" punch, Alexander Ham and cheese sticks, "BOOM (Chickapop) goes the Cannon", Lafayette Baguettes, 3 Fundamental Fruits at the exact same time, "History has it's fries on you", "Yorktown" pattie, "Take-a-Break" Kitkats and Aaron Burr-itos. You know that creativity makes me so proud! They had their viewing party during the first day it was released while the kids were down and we stayed up late after fireworks on the 4th to watch it. Every bit as good and just as moving as seeing it live!

I guess in honor of celebrating FREEDOM, the kids were FREE TO CHOOSE to be all over the place and country for the holiday. As you can see, Karsyn is not only still in Virginia with Kennedy, but extended her stay by about three weeks to fly back into town on the same flight as the Hughes just in time for our Black Butte annual trip. Washington D.C. did not cancel their firework show so they took advantage and had great seats on the Virginia side of the Washington Mall for a professional fireworks show. Holland wasn't scared at all. Besides growing tired of waiting for the show to start, she loved the fireworks! 

Will chose to spend the night with his group of friends, spending the night between the Shoemakers and the Brunings homes for food and fireworks. 

This is a tough time for Will because everyone but one of his close friends graduated this year. One of them leaves on his mission in a few weeks and the others are leaving for college. 

 Even Cassidy and Sam had fun plans for the weekend traveling to spend the holiday in Jackson Hole with the Lazarte's! Given a choice, Layton would have chosen to be somewhere else but he was scheduled to spend the night working at Safeway.

 So looked like we were left to ourselves. And we are pretty boring left to ourselves on the 4th of July. We are not fireworks people. We enjoy watching a good show, but we would never spend money for our own fireworks show or dare mess with lighting them ourselves. Luckily we were invited to join the Parkers and their festivities. Butch was more than happy to grill out for us with his new fancy grill and Adam was all geared up for another infamous fireworks show. To be honest, I was truly scared to be there for Adam's fireworks show. I have heard too many stories and even seen video proof of how crazy he can get with his explosives. 

But I have to admit, Adam did a fabulous job! I was so impressed with how big and how high his fireworks show was. Besides being really cold by the time it got dark, and one little bark dust fire in the neighbors yard, it was the perfect ending to a fun night. 

What was amazing was to see the sky light up EVERYWHERE all over the city! Because there were no public fireworks shows, it seemed that every neighborhood pulled together and put on at least one big show themselves. The sky was lighting up everywhere and I have never heard it as loud before as it was this year. It warmed my heart to know that the patriotism and love of country can't be stopped by a pandemic. I loved seeing people come together to make it a special night with tradition, family and friends.