The Felix of July and Rube Goldberg

When Americans hear "the 4th", they know it refers to July, the date on which a great nation was born and a date on which we were given the late Rube Goldberg. We celebrated the birth of our nation, once again, at Downtown Bellevue Park. It was a gorgeous day in Seattle- sunny and 80 degrees. We got there early afternoon in order to get a good site and to spend the day with each other, enjoying the park and the amusements. We had brought a little barbecue, and as we were carrying it up, a person with the parks department "strongly suggested" we not use it. "I mean, we really, really discourage you from using it", she discouraged. After Renae lamented "there goes dinner", the parks rep gave us vouchers for free teriyaki. Anyway, as you can see Felix got into the spirit, for about fifteen seconds, and would only don this hat while eating a Dorito, thereby showing respect to his Mexican roots he does not have.
Felix also enjoyed some ice cream. It was Renae's, and she was not happy about it. We made sure she got another and peace was restored.
Before I go any further, I would like to address a mistake I had made in a previous post. Apparently I misspelled Chewbacca. My error was brought to my attention by my Star Wars geek sister (I won't say which). Felix Truman's nickname should be written, Trubacca. My apologies to the Wookie my sister affectionately calls, Chewie.

Alright, so back to the 4th. We did have a wonderful day just relaxing and spending time together. We did miss Megan, who is in California visiting her mother. But we were thinking of her, and did get to talk to her. We brought a small tent with us for shade, and pitched it right next to the water, where Felix and Renae would dangle their feet.
And here we are getting ready for the fireworks-It was about 10pm when the fireworks started. Felix Truman was a little tired by then after such an active day. Just before the first explosion, the lights went out throughout the park and everyone got quiet. Felix could sense the tension and became very alert, he sat on mommy's lap as we directed his gaze to the other side of the park. As the first flare exploded, he sat in awe, gripped Renae's arms a little tighter, and then smiled. They lasted about a half hour, and Felix Truman fell asleep about half way through.