Celebrating Our Hometown

We love our town. It's a beautiful place to live. The people are friendly, the streets are tidy, and though we're a short hop away from three small cities, and a mere hour or two away from two huge metropolitan areas, there is still a small town feeling in Hellertown, Pennsylvania. One of the days that shows our hometown to its best advantage is Community Day, which happened this past Saturday.

The first order of business for us was to get Kairi over to the area behind town hall, where her dance conservatory was putting on a demonstration. Kai is on the competition dance squad, so she got to participate. They danced their award winning number "Oh Boy!" I liked that they weren't performing in a dark hall so I could get a few pretty good photos! She did a great job, as always, and the people in the crowd seemed very impressed. Of course, we had seen the routine a few (thousand) times before, so we could tell the girls were all a BIT rusty since recital, but that's what 2 months without class will do! Still, they were really adorable, and we were proud of her.

After the performance, we started strolling around the booths set up by the various local churches and businesses. We had some really delicious fresh squeezed lemonade, and the kids rode on a train of cars made from metal barrels and pulled by a tractor. It was a cute little ride, but even more cute was the fact that when Kai got on, half of her class was also riding, so they were all wearing matching dance dresses. Nicky liked his car because it was black, which he's decided is his new favorite color of the moment.

We were looking for a booth we had seen last year advertising a local dojo. Nicky really wants to start karate, but we can't seem to find somewhere to take him that's not a long drive. So we went from booth to booth, getting freebies for the kids, entering raffles, and playing games, like beanbag toss. (Though we never did find the martial arts school.) Scott watched Saucon Valley Fine Arts perform songs from musicals while the kids won (by answering a health question) and decorated t-shirts at the hospital's booth. There was a moonbounce, of course, and face painting, bake sales, and a hot dog stand where we eventually stopped for lunch. We also stopped by the booth of a good friend from church who was selling Creative Memories products for a nice chat.

Then we discovered that they had turned the town fountain into a duck pond! It looked so funny! The kids won prizes while Scott and I relaxed and chatted to neighbors. The day was a huge success, and Nicky is still talking about it. (And playing with all the loot he got!)

The one downer of the day came later, when Kai reported for her second performance at Dimmick Park. The show had to be cancelled because it started to pour, and the floor was too slippery to be safe for the dancers.

If I could choose anywhere in the world to raise my kids, I'd choose where we are right now. That's a very nice feeling as a parent.