early planning for next year in Nauvoo

Since Mom and Dad are already making the reservations for our reunion in Nauvoo for next year, I thought I'd throw this out there. The proposed schedule I saw on Facebook is for us to be in Nauvoo from July 4 to July 9. If possible, could we change that to July THIRD so we're not spending the 4th traveling and getting settled into the lodge/house and all that logistical stuff?

See, we've discovered here in Connecticut that most communities celebrate Independence Day on the weekend, not on the 4th itself, so we have to wait until Saturday to see any fireworks (unless we wanted to drive an hour down to New Haven. No thanks.) So we spent the whole day unpacking and cleaning and shopping for house stuff. Adam put up a pegboard in the garage and unpacked his toolbox, and I worked on clothes in the girls' room. It was productive, but now that I'm seeing everyone's next-day posts on Facebook about all the cool things they did yesterday to celebrate, I'm feeling a little gypped.

So next year, I want to have an AWESOME Independence Day. Red, white, and blue outfits for the kids (and grown-ups if they choose). Have a flag raising and sing the National Anthem and say the Pledge and have a reading of the Declaration of Independence. Water balloon launch contests in the afternoon. Have a barbecue dinner and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Go to a fireworks show. The whole shebang, the whole day. We can fill it all in as we go, but this is the direction I'm thinking. Since we'll be in Nauvoo and the Church promotes American patriotism, they might even have some of these activities for us to participate in, but if they don't, we can do all of this ourselves. We have enough people! OH. I forgot fire-works!

P.S. Summer just read this and reminded me that we need to have a cake that looks like the American flag. We'll add that to the list of requirements on the day. (And we can put birthday candles on it for Grandma.)