Fourth of July in New Town

We live in a new urban community called New Town at Saint Charles. We love all the walkable features, pools, lakes, canals, stores, restaurants, bars and all the fun annual events.  We particularly love the Fourth of July in New Town!  Our first one was in 2012 when we first moved here.  Our day looks a lot different than it did in 2012.  Our town loves the Fourth of July, and you will see that through the photos I am sharing some of the house decorations around town!

Our day will start with a nice breakfast, something festive like this Waffle Parfait, made with both strawberries and blueberries to celebrate the holiday.  Bob will join the New Town Men's Club at 8:00 in the morning to get ready to ride in the parade. I'm joining my friend Andrea for her annual Fourth of July party at her home.  She invites people from all walks of life, and it is fun to see how the kids grow from year to year.  We will watch the parade in front of her house.

The parade is always a hoot, full of fun entries from each of our "districts," the Men's Club, the 50+ Singles Club, Jeep owners, Mini Cooper owners, Little Miss New Town, and Mrs. New Town, and many other fun entries.  Candy throwing and ice pops, beaded necklaces and even jello shots will be handed out to the participants (adults only on the jello shots, though!)  When the parade ends, we will find our way back home to cook lunch.

Our lunch menu is pretty basic but so delicious: fresh Gulf shrimp boiled in Old Bay, devil's egg potato salad, and cucumbers and onions, and sliced tomatoes. Doesn't that sound good? 

After lunch, we will head to the neighborhood beach and hang out for a while. Bob might get the kayak out into the lake. We will head back home to sit in the air conditioning for a while or go to the backyard and enjoy talking to the neighbors who are out on golf carts or walking around.

For dinner, we will grill hot dogs and hamburgers, with chips, and rootbeer floats for dessert.  We will keep it really simple, and perhaps have a few people over at the last minute!

The highlight of the day will be at 9:30 when the fireworks start.  The fireworks are in our district and we can sit on our porch and watch them.  Our neighborhood raised around $3000 for this display.  Afterwards, we will get in the golf cart and drive around watching the smaller displays of fireworks going on. We will see displays for hours after our big display! Eventually, we will call it quits and head back home, talking about our great day in New Town!