Fourth of July Celebrations in Goddard, Kansas

Fourth of July brings out all the summer time fun,the awesome barbecue,the water wars and fireworks that light up the night. Here in Goddard,Kansas since we don't love in the city we can purchase and set off our own fireworks,which the all the neighborhood kids extremely enjoy.We also like to get outside and share conversations and meals with our neighbors (yes people still do this).That is what we love about our small town lives.

Some fun ideas that have reared their heads in the past have been to have the fire chief come out and open up the fire hydrant for a little while as well as spray the kids with the fire house on the truck.We also have rented inflatables like ball bounces and activity courses.

Being that summer is a time of year that most people vacation funds can sometimes dwindle down a bit,so we come up with alternate solutions such as one neighbor might set up a tv and chairs in their garage for those that want to watch movies,another neighbor might have a water filling station for water guns and water balloons or maybe play nostalgic games that the kids still seem to love like,three legged races and food eating contests.It's always a good time no matter what.

Some great recipes have came out of our years of fourth of July celebrating that are simple and convenient.

Pasta Salad
what you need: tri colored rotini noodles
red onion
green bell pepper
zesty Italian dressing
Parmesan cheese
black olives
diced ham

boil rotini pasta drain and set aside in a glass bowl ( I like to add a little olive oil and salt & pepper to the warm pasta),cut your red onion and bell pepper into dices mix into pasta,slice up about 1/2 can of black olives and about 1/2 cup of diced ham add as well to pasta,mix in about 1/2 cup of zesty Italian dressing with mixture,toss and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese,let set in refrigerator for about 1 hour before serving.

Jello jigglers with fruit

what you need: 2 boxes of your favorite kind of jello
1 can of mixed fruit in water
small shaped containers or cake pan