Whew! What a day this was! We just got back from a long day at Tumbleweed Park for the Fourth of July, and I am exhausted. Our family has begun somewhat of a tradition, since we moved down to Arizona, by attending the festivities put on at Tumbleweed Park in Chandler. Everytime we have come back from this event, we are always so exhausted. My dogs are definitely worse for the wear, and no I am not talking about pets.

Every year for the Fourth of July, Tumbleweed puts on a fantastic show of fireworks, music, a bike parade, and kids activities that has a little something for everyone. In the coming sections, I will explain how we ran ourselves into the ground having a ball celebrating the Fourth.

 If you get to Tumbleweed early enough, you can partake in what I like to call "Try Me's".  Most intelligent individuals, unlike myslef, would call these samples.  When you first enter into the vendor booth section of the park there are at least twenty or so stops you have to make so that you can collect all of the marketing junk they are passing out.

We made sure that we pilfered all of the booths of everything they had to offer and than some.  Some of the stuff we were able to procure were t-shirts, coozies for our "non-alchoholic beverages (wink, wink), pencils, water bottles, and other odds and ends that we might not need but just had to have.

Along with the promo merch that was offered, we were also able to get samples of NOS.  I had never really tasted NOS, but I was pleasantly surpised by both the taste and the coolness of the drink.  It was of course close to a million degrees outside and that was perfectly chilled.  if I only had some vodka to add to it.

When it comes to the kids section, you will only find a larger play area at Disney Land. They have two different areas for the kids to play in: The dry side and the wet side. What we normally do is find a shaded area in the middle of both so that they can run around like wild banshees. Every once in awhile, we would see them long enough for them to guzzle down a juice box, grab a piece of string cheese, and run off again hollering "See Ya" on the way out.

The dry side consists of about ten different attractions: Wall climbs, dodge ball arena, jungle gyms, and air filled race courses. The wet side has about five different types of play sections: a slip and slide, water laser tag, water slides, and a dunk tank.

The only drawback, which is still a plus, is that they are free. While most people would ask themselves, "How could this possibly be a bad thing?". You will be complaining the minute you see the line for each ride wrapped around the park twenty times and the wait for every ride taking about 15 hours. But if you have nothing better to do, why complain?

For those of you that still have money these days, they offered a good variety of food. The vendors had burgers, hot dogs, and brats. They also had one of my all time favorites. Indian Tacos. Indian Tacos, for those of you not in the know, are a wonderful blend of indian fry bread, chilli, lettuce, and tomato. (At least that is how they were done in my home, but they looked the same). If I was one of them thar "rich folk", I would have swooped one of those up in a heartbeat.

On the sweet side, you could get almost any thing to help your sweet tooth. There were funnel cakes, ice cream, cinnamon covered indian fry bread, and churros. The most intersting concoction was the kabob corner where you could get what looked like a tasty treat on a skewer. I was told there were strawberries and bananas dipped in chocolate. They looked so delicious.

For those of us on a budget, we took the penny pinch route of purchasing food on the way and filling our cooler. We packed up some cold cuts, cheese, fruit, and chips. When you are trying to feed a small army you have to cut corners where ever you can.

Last but not least, (hiccup) we come to the beer garden.  The beer garden offers adults either trying to get the through the day with their children, or those free of children a chance to enjoy a nice cold refreshment until the fireworks.  They a live band that plays a bunch of covers, but they sounded like they were putting on a good show.  It is well fenced off from the rest of the park and has security guards checking ID's at the door. 

How could I forget the most important thing about the day? Well it might have been the beer gardens fault, but I digress. The fireworks display that is put on provides an excellent ending to a wonderful day. They started at 9:30 and lasted for around twenty minutes. The team that puts on the display does a wonderful job of mixing and matching the fireworks to provide a colorful display.

What I found the most humorous was how my family was enjoying them. They were watching the fireworks and ohhing and ahhing their way through them. But what was funny was about half way through they started talking about "This must be the grand finale" over and over again. This went on for about ten minutes. It was as if they wanted them to be over sooner than they were. When the grand finale finally did show up, they all understood what it really would look like and a unanimous "There it is" when it blew up the sky in a see of colors.

Now that I have rambled on for over an hour, I will end it rather quickly with these words.  If you have not been, you need to go.  If you have been, than you already know.  See you next year!