Celebrating!

My favorite part of the day on the Fourth of July is quickly becoming the morning hours. Three years ago our neighborhood began having a parade in the morning where the kids decorate their bikes, scooters, wagons and strollers. This year we gathered at the west end of our street, said the Pledge of Allegience together and listened to the Star Spangled Banner, and then watched the parade begin. By this year, Mike, of course, has a plan, where he has Marcus and Steve take their cars down to the site of the end of the parade route and then gives them a ride back to the beginning. By the time they all walk/ride to the end, a ride back to the house was welcomed, especially since it was so hot this year.



If you look closely, you can still see a few drops of water on Sydney's face. Jill had just opened an ice cold bottle of water and Sydney wanted a drink. But she grabbed the bottle and squeezed and water fountained up all over her, dousing her and taking her breath away! That was one very surprised little girl! But she was probably the "coolest" one riding in the parade!



LET THE PARADE BEGIN!!!

Mike and I also talked about how we could amp up the show of patriotism and make the morning an even more impressive memory for the grandbabies and he decided we should have an ice cream cake after the parade. (Yes, we heard, "Cake in the morning?" from their parents).

So, I would like to say that this is a picture of our ice cream cake.... However, it's not, and next year I will do a much better job. I learned that room-temperature is still not cool enough for a cake to have ice cream spread on it! Everything slid every which way and it was a mess! I tried wrapping it in Seran wrap to hold it together and quickly stuck it into the freezer, but the results were still tacky looking. Yummy, yes. Pretty, no. Luckily, I had also baked the extra batter in ice cream cones and filled the tops with ice cream. This worked for the kids and the adults ate the cake.

I may even have to try this project again before next year. It seems really simple to me now to bake the cake ahead of time, slice it, and place it into the freezer til the next day and then frost it with ice cream.( Btw, the ice cream cake picture I borrowed is a recipe using Klondike bars stacked with more ice cream between them. Super simple! )