The Most Patriotic Place

I can't think of a better place to spend the 4th of July than Ontario, WI. Small Town U.S.A. Population 476. Middle of Nowhere. Generations of families reuniting in the hometown for barbecues and the annual festivities. (Don't mistake my "making fun" in this article - I would not have changed a thing!)

Our first event was the community talent show the night before. The entire population was crowded into the small town hall, where it was standing room only, a hundred degrees and about 200% humidity. The kids were less than thrilled to be held in place for 2 hours past their bedtime, and we were less than thrilled to see one girl perform 4 acts, 3 almost identical, with long shoe-changing sessions in between. We would later find out the show lasted past 11 p.m. We were happy to leave after the performance we had been waiting for, watching my grandma wave around a fly swatter for the red hat society.

Things did get better from there! We found our motel room in a neighboring town to be larger and cleaner than I expected for $45 a night, and Kjo and Kav managed to share a double bed without incident. It was Kav's first time out of a crib. Kai unfortunately woke up with the sun, but 4 hours later we were packed up and on our way back to my grandparents' for the big parade. I believe last time I saw it I wore a poodle skirt and roller skated behind the 63 corvette, a central feature of the parade that decided to break down right before the start today. This was the same corvette we drove away from the church on our wedding day in.

It seemed a sad sign that my grandpa turned over his MC role and now stood by for a few instances of colorful commentary. He seems to be the most important guy in town. The town's history is his history. The house he still lives in above the hardware store he ran for his entire career is the home he was born in.

We didn't get to spend as much time with my grandma as we'd have liked - she was once again busy with her rad hat club. SOCIETY. Sorry, Grandma. This time she rode on a float and threw candy right at my camera, giving me the perfect shot. As usual, I took more pictures than a professional photographer, and enjoyed capturing everyone in their red white and blue outfits. Especially my niece Alyssa on her 1st birthday.

The parade was a hit for Kavan, who enjoyed retrieving the candy and making his pile. I was excited when Organic Valley drove by and threw us string cheese so he could finally eat something. Kaylin was back upstairs by now, the only 4-year-old on the face of this earth who doesn't like parades. She had been covering her ears before the Brookwood High School band even arrived. Ben was happy to get out of the heat and join her in their box seats in front of the upstairs window looking out over Main Street, from where she wasn't even afraid of the firetrucks. Tonight she will be afraid of the fireworks, and we will wonder why we went through all the trouble to keep them up late. By tomorrow our whirlwind 500 mile trip will be over. Back to the "insane mundane"...at least until the even bigger trip coming up in a few days!