Packing for our vacation is a very orderly process. Our SUV is crammed full of bags, food, buggy boards, towels, and our two dogs , Sydney and Abby. It takes us two and a half hours to make the drive to our house at Litchfield Beach. When we arrive, we are greeted by all of our cousins who come running out of the door and down the porch stairs screaming all the way. Once the adrenaline rush has died down we, quickly unload our SUV and head to the beach, where our family tradition of bochy ball, swimming in the ocean and four squares begin. One of my favorite memories is the time that our whole family played four squares until midnight! Another family favorite is covering our trampoline in liquid soap, turning on the hose, jumping and falling all over the place until someone usually gets hurt and our parents make us quit.
My family has many Fourth of July traditions. As I awake on the morning of fourth I can smell the pancakes and bacon being prepared. I head upstairs where my cousin Elie is preparing stacks of pancakes and bacon by the pound, both of which are my favorite! After I have eaten more that my share of each, I head down stairs to help prepare our golf cart for the big parade. This process takes an hour of taping streamers, flags, pinwheels and any other Fourth of July decoration you can imagine to every available spot on the golf cart. We all pile on with cups of candy to throw to the kids and bing a few adults in the head too. Our golf cart is always one of the best and we have even been in the local newspaper.
Fireworks are also a big part of our tradition. My mom and my uncle Ben are in charge of taking all of the kids to buy fireworks. We rush into the crowded fireworks store amazed by all of the different types .The largest one always catches our attention even though we know that we can’t have it. But that’s okay, because the smallest ones in the end tends to be our favorites anyway. Sparklers however are not on my favorites list anymore, and here’s why. When I was around 8 years old my cousin Edward and I had just opened our first box of sparklers. The giant sparklers seemed like a great idea at the time until we realized that they break off and you can step on the still burning remains. Unfortunately my cousin, Edward and I found this out the hard way by both stepping on the hot sparkler at the same time. As you can guess this did not feel pleasant.
One of the most memorable times I can remember is when my cousin Neeley got in engaged on the beach and all of my cousins were in on it. Each one of the cousins held up a letter which spelled out, “Will you marry me?” Of course she said yes and then we had to take 3000 pictures, which is not my favorite thing to do. It is still something I will never forget. The family talent show is always fun and each year we have to come with a new skit.
As you can tell my family is really close and traditions are very important to us. I believe it is very important to spend with your family, because friends can come and go , but family will always be there for you no matter what. Thank you for your time and hope that your family is as important to you as mine is to me.
LOVE YOU COUSIN ROBERT! THank you! I wanted to share your speech with those who read my blog! SOOO proud of you and the young man (o gosh!!!) God is creating you to be!
