Independence Day

Having a professional photographer as a brother is a good thing :-). We had a blast on July 4th. Many thanks to Scott Noonan and the Fair Lawn Fire Department who offered us a ride in their fire trucks and displayed Tomorrows Children's Fund and Strides For Sylvie banners during the big parade. Scott came over to the house the night before and showed Sylvie a picture of what he would look like in his uniform which he'd be wearing during the parade. Sylvie was so excited to see Scott whenever he came by the fire truck to see how we were doing.

Miss Sylvie sat on my lap for 2.5 hours during the parade! Only once did we have to show her Max and Ruby on Michael's iPhone. And only one fit when she saw the ice cream truck. "I want a Dora ice pop NOWWWWWWWW!" could be heard for a city block. It wouldn't be a Village of Ridgewood event without a bunch of guys selling crap on wheelie carts. During the holidays, it was light sabers. And this past weekend, it was inflatables. Hello Kitty, Spongebog, Dora. And plush dogs on leashes. I promised Sylvie after the parade we could get ice pops and blow up Helly Kitty's. When we disembarked the fire truck, Sylvie yelled out, "That was fun!!!" After the parade, we strolled back through town and there Sylvie got a lesson in retail: Stores are closed on July 4th. She proceeded to ask me all day long why. This confirmed she is very closely related to my mom.