Independence Day

Every year, a family from my church hosts a large Independence Day party. Since the "I Love America" show, put on by James River Assembly, ceased a few years ago, it's the only July 4th party I've been to.

Every year the particular activities are different, though there's typically lots of volleyball, shooting of guns, and of course, fireworks. This year there was a large slip-and-slide setup behind the pond on a hill near the house. It was probably 150' or longer, with a pump bringing water from the pond to the top of the slide. This had been setup before, a couple years ago. Someone got hurt then, if I recall, which caused it to not be setup last year. Getting hurt wouldn't be very difficult on the slide, as I got some serious air on a little ramp halfway down, and almost went fell completely off the slide.

For the second year in a row, there was a boom truck setup by the water, with a large rope attached. The truck arm was extended over the pond, and we'd jump from the bed of the truck into the pond. Most of the people just jumped or belly-flopped (there was a particularly painful on that a girl did near me). Quite a few of us did flips or dives from the rope though. We couldn't ever get a double back-flip. Maybe next year...

Some of us guys did some rugby drills later in the afternoon. It was a lot like the drills I did when playing football in high school. The guy heading the drills was a big 6'9" guy, who made the rest of the big guys like tiny in comparison. Thankfully I never had to tackle or get tackled by him! During one of the drills, I got a knee to my lower quad. I could barely walk several hours later. I had two soccer games tonight, and could definitely tell that it's still sore.

There were quite a few other things, such as a water slide for the kids, badminton, a creek (which was freezing), canoeing, eating supper, and more. And then there were the fireworks. Right after the fireworks, I came home and finished assignment 5.3, which was due that night. Ah, procrastination.