Fun ideas for celebrating the 4th of July.. Independance Day

Here at farm funnies we love the 4th of July.

We love to find fun ways to celebrate and of course  we enjoy all the sharing.

We are so grateful for our freedom..

a big THANK YOU to our military,and their families, past present & future.

We owe a great deal to you.

JULY 4th 2010,

We often have a camp out ,dogs and all.

I use to let the horses loose to graze on the yard, amongst our tents & picnic tables.

For me it  is great to enjoy a real TRIBAL experiance. (we have Indian heritage).

I loved this,but with lots of little ones ,during recent years, I haven't let our horses enjoy the 4th with us, in this capacity. I may let Barbie(our 40" pony) join us for part of our "wild" pony/tribe experiance this year.

I truly believe in America as a melting pot, so I  like to take the best of all of our heritages

and mix them all together for loads of fun.

My little "plug" ,for those of us who agree,to become  a "tipping point" 

Let's go back towards how America use to be, and stop letting others change us into their

singular ideas.

A few years ago, we painted a 4x8 sheet of plywood white and set it up outside,

for a  huge movie screen.

We had a  borrowed  DVD projector and we  played fun kid movies until the kids were tucked into their

sleeping bags, then  us grownups  stayed up & watched  the "boring" movies.

This was a hit for one and all.

Fireworks ,of course.

RATS, did I mention, I hate rats, big small or paper. 

Everyone else  seems to love finding ways to stick these

little grey paper exploding ones  where I will step on them, one day they may be sorry...YIKES

One of my daughters is helping me plan a treasure hunt for  the grandkids.

I use to create these for our kids.

I created  wacky rhyming clues,some with scripture riddles, some with odd family sayings,some with quotes from favorite books.

The clues would  lead the kids on wild goose chases throughout our  yard,pasture & woods to find

our dinner.

Any item that could be easily contained (to protect it from would be critter investigations) I buried, put up in trees or wherever I thought of at the time).

The highlight was finding a watermelon buried in wet sand on our riverbank.

I created a wacky riddle from the Hobbit of  Lord of the Rings.

It became one of our past most treasured clues :

You will find the next food item ...

Where there are critters who are ever thirsty, always drinking,

All in mail,never clinking.

Run past Bonnie's hideaway, to the wild bee tree where many  a summer book was read,

find an x marking the "spot" ,

proceed with a Tiffany "manuever" minus the gopher, to  find your treasure...

----------------------------------------------It's your turn-----------------------------------------

Make up your own treasure hunt, set up a mini golf course(the tuna can challenge or ?)

Let your kids, or neighbor kids help you. 

Set up a dunk tank,slippy slide for prizes  or obstacle course,

Set up  a scavanger hunt.

Our 4th menu

BBQ ribs (what else?) hot dogs, potato salad

roasted corn, green salad, a blackberry cobbler and homemade icecream

chips and dips cans of pop in an ice chest cooler.  and of course S'mores.

Even if you live in a itty bitty apt( I have too)  you can be inventive and creative. 

Why not pack your lunch and head to the mall,  a park, beach, zoo, or ? 

Plan a fun menu,  you could even create clues for each dinner item,even if it simply lead from one place to another (a backwards dinner is fun, I'll get you started... In stead of runing in a circle, find our favorite store for our 3 ringed circus dessert ( donuts), kind of lame, but you get the idea.

Go to the$1 store for small favors/prizes  etc. Be sure to have sparklers and snakes for the kids to enjoy

with adult supervision,of course.

BOND as your own family TRIBE..BOND with your neighbors. 

ENJOY, CELEBRATE,  each of us in America have much to be thankful for.

You have time to do this..yes, you do... If I can you can.

I would love hearing what you plan to do, or have done in the past.

Whatever else you do, please be thankful for our wonderful freedoms.

If you believe in prayer,remember to pray for our military and their families

p.s.

Any of our kids reading our watermelon clue, may disagree as to the content ..

You are no doubt CORRECT,

but using my poetic license and my  spotty clue recollection, this is what seemed close to the 

ancient actual clue.

extra..this just came in, daughter who is helping with the treasure hunt just sent me thes clues, wow I was way off on the watermelon clue, dare I claim a senior moment?

her clues are so good i had to  come back and share them with you
(even if hubby is outside waiting for  a sawdust mover helper)

1. It's time to eat, so shake a leg! See if you can find a "dinosaur egg". They like to nest where it's nice and cool, so look for our "egg" at a shady pool. (Watermelon hidden at the river bank -- assuming there is still an accessible bank somewhere).


2. In Moses' time, God sent bread from the sky. Not a bad idea, let's give it a try. Search through the woods, look high and low. But hurry it up before we all have to go! (Hot dog/Hamburger buns in a basket/bucket hanging from a tree).

3. The base of this dish came from where you've just been. When we finally eat, think of that place again. Head out back and into the shade. And by the way, you might need a spade. (Potato salad in a jar inside a ziplock bag, buried in the back yard).

4. Even the horses like a good snack. We know you do too, but please bring these back! Look where the snacks for the horses are stored. And keep moving briskly, we're all getting bored! (Chips/sealed snacks by the grain).

5. Let's grill up some dogs without any fur, so go to the place where our dogs once were. If you're confused, no need to give in: Search for a chest where your dad used to swim. (Meat inside an ice chest, possibly under a tarp, in the area where the old dog run/swimming pool used to be).

I can come up with more, I just need to know more about the menu