4th of July Heat Drives Trouble Inside
The 4th of July was one of those dog days of summer that saw the temperature soar past the 95-degree mark. Long before the fireworks lit up the Hudson River for the Independence Day Extravaganza, trouble rolled into town in the form of my 11-month-old baby girl named Maddie.
She was not impressed with the oppressive heat and warned her parents early in the day that any long trips outside would be greatly frowned upon. However, the baby’s parents love to live on the edge and had a grand trip planned to good old Ellis Island.
Since the ferry is just a hop skip and a jump away, we packed Maddie into her stroller and began our walk to Liberty State Park. Just about 500 yards into the trip, things started heading south in a big hurry. Maddie was swinging for the fences, amazed by the complete idiocy of her parents.
Maddie doesn’t speak yet, but made her point of view perfectly clear. “You can not be serious!” It’s 12-hundred degrees Celsius and these road scholar parents of mine are dragging me into a park where no one ever bothered to plant any trees.
As the sun relentlessly beat down upon us, we realized it was time to switch gears. We made a bee-line for a nearby restaurant that I know opens at noon. We marveled at the brilliance right up until we walked into the restaurant. “Sorry, because of the 4th of July, we don’t open until 1 o’clock.”
That’s just PERFECT – How Quaint!!
It was 11:45am and I told restaurant boy that they always open at noon as indicated on their door. He chuckled and said not today. We hid in the shade for about 15 extra minutes before making a hasty retreat back home.
Once we were safely ensconced back in the comfort of our air-conditioned home, Maddie regained her sense of humor and put on a wild child display for the ages. She ripped around the house making it very clear that this particular holiday would be better spent indoors. Once again proving that sometimes my 11-month-old daughter possesses more common sense than I do.
Stay Home PaPa 