Here in Juneau, the 4th of July is a BIG deal. They have days of festivities and the actual celebration starts July 3rd, at 11:59 P.M.

Because our days are so long here the fireworks are shot off at Midnight of the 4th. This is something that I thought was neat, we could be the first ones to celebrate! Additionally on the 3rd, D’s work sponsored The New Old Town Chataqua a circus like group to come and do workshops and performances. We made it to the performance that night and despite fighting with our VERY sleepy and very stimulated little girl it was a hoot!

They had a ton of fun acts and it was a great way to spend out night. We planned on staying downtown after the show and waiting till midnight to watch the fireworks. BB, however, really needed sleep and was fighting sleeping in the carrier really hard and so we both decided that it was probably best for her to get her sleep in her own bed and to not push it. We were still able to see some fireworks as it’s not illegal here, and EVERYBODY let their inner pyro out! Our neighbors had a lot of fireworks and were setting them off for hours so we were able to enjoy from the comfort of our own home. D and I have never been that big into celebrating the 4th anyways (I only remember one time we really did anything big and that was just the fireworks, last year we planned to go to San Francisco for their fireworks but left in a hurry after being stuck in traffic for an hour. We instead spent the evening driving down the 1 and it ended up being much better that anything we could have planned … funny how that happens).

On the 4th we woke up and headed downtown for the Parade. We got a great spot and waited for it to start. BB was great, very patient and eventually after D had a stroke of genius took a nap through the first half of it. She enjoyed watching and dancing once she woke up. We grabbed burgers after while letting the crowd die down and headed home for the afternoon to let BB get some rest and take an actual nap. The rest of the activities that we chose to ditch included another parade, and a big party at the beach, which included sand castle contests, sand dollar hunts, and many other fun activities. To be honest, I think going home and missing out on that was probably a better choice for our family… remember the plans we had last 4th and how the alternative was way better than I could have imagined. I have a feeling that sometimes missing out on what everyone else is doing to spend some time with each other is a better choice sometimes.

I hope everyone is safe today and that you had a good time. Most importantly I hope you enjoyed the time with your family!