Tag Archives: Coeur d’Alene Fourth of July Parade

American Heroes Thursday Rundown

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We are now in the second half of Thursday Rundowns for 2025. I hope you have enjoyed this year’s posts thus far and if you haven’t—I doubt you will like this one 😉. Alright, let’s get started.

Moving Moment – On Independence Day morning, I took my kids to the Coeur d’Alene American Heroes Parade that is held every Fourth of July. With the parade occurring just five days after the ambush attack on firefighters just outside of town, you figured the community would use the event to honor the two individuals who lost their lives. Did they ever. The parade’s opening was dedicated to John Morrison and Frank Harwood. Two riderless horses representing the lives of Morrison and Harwood led the procession with firetrucks and firefighters following close behind.

Two riderless horses pass from our vantage point at the Coeur d’Alene American Heroes Parade.

Backdrop Photos Back – With the arrival of summer, Sloan and Beau returned to St. Paschal’s Educare, a daycare center we have enrolled our kids at the past few years. Everything from the hours to the food to the values instilled are great, but what I really enjoy are the monthly photos they take of the kids in front of fun backdrops. The classic Fourth of July backdrop from last year returned this week. I always get a kick out of the faces that Beau makes. Thanks, St. Paschal’s!

I love the monthly photos that the staff at St. Paschal’s EduCare take of my kids.

Frozen S’mores – While we are still on the topic of Independence Day, I wanted to tell you about the dessert Sidney made for my parents’ Fourth of July cookout. She brought frozen s’mores to the party! She got the idea from a friend and then replicated them perfectly for Friday. The dessert is refreshing with an interesting frozen texture. Chocolate pudding, marshmallow crème, cream cheese, and cool whip form the layers of goodness stuffed between the two graham crackers. There is still plenty of time to make these for your next summer BBQ so tap here if you want the recipe.

Sidney holding a plate of her s’mores dessert.

$5 Meal Deal – The latest trend is for Fast food restaurants to offer some type of meal for $5. After years of increasing prices and shrinkflation, I think we all deserve it. But the university I work at has actually offered a similar deal way before fast food restaurants embraced it. Earlier this week, I forgot my lunch at home so I went to EWU’s PUB (the student center) for the $5 meal day that is offered daily. For just 20 quarters, I got a cheeseburger, tater tots, and a 24 oz. drink. What a treat!

This was my lunch on Monday…EWU’s $5 meal deal.

Memorable Photo Shoot – On this date in 2016, I wrote about a photo shoot that ended up being worth every penny. While on our honeymoon, the DreamArt Photography rep stationed in our resort sold us on a private photo session to commemorate our time in Cancun. I went back and forth on whether to bite the bullet, but I thought the shoot would ultimately be a timeless souvenir. I am so glad we did it. The photos turned out great at the time and I love them even more now. In fact, I might love them a little too much—one of the photos is still my profile photo (yeah, I should probably change that).

I loved how our honeymoon photos turned out.

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That will do it for now. Please pray for the repose of the soul of Rob Heacock. He died unexpectedly this past weekend. I got to know Rob through my involvement with our St. Mary Knights of Columbus Council and was saddened to hear of his passing. Don’t Blink.

2024 Independence Day Weekend

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Let me catch my breath because it was a hot, fun, and memorable Fourth of July weekend. In fact, I am sure it packed more energy than even the craziest fireworks package you spent way too much money on. So, if you are interested, let me roll back the past four days for the Reser Fam…

We had an awesome Fourth of July weekend. This photo was taken inside River Park Square in Spokane as we made our way to Riverfront Park on July 4, 2024.

Explosive July 4 – I think it was the busiest Fourth of July I have ever been part of. We woke up on Thursday morning and drove out to Coeur d’Alene for the community’s Fourth of July parade. It was the first Independence Day parade I have ever witnessed in-person and it didn’t disappoint as it put us in an authentic red, white, and blue spirit for the rest of the day. We then left Idaho and drove back to Spokane where we visited Riverfront Park. A traveling carnival had set up shop near the Looff Carrousel that extended to the red wagon playground. I cringed at the ticket ride prices but because it was a holiday I allowed Sloan and Beau to have fun on several of the attractions.

We spent the Fourth of July morning at a parade and a carnival.

From Riverfront Park we headed out to my parents’ house in north Spokane for a Fourth of July cookout. In addition to my siblings and their families in attendance, our friends, Dylan and Fidela, also joined us. It was such a good vibe as we enjoyed each other’s company and celebrated America’s birthday the right way. After the cookout we drove to Pavillion Park for fireworks. We re-joined Dylan and Fidela and ate freeze pops as we waited for the show. At a little before 10 p.m. the pyrotechnic arrangement started as brilliant colors and effects filled the sky. The perfect way to cap an amazing Fourth of July!

Our Fourth of July afternoon/evening was a lot of fun. We had a cookout at my parents’ house and then we headed to Pavillion Park for fireworks.

Chill July 5 – Needing to recover just a bit after a jam-packed Fourth of July, we took it pretty easy. Our main event was spending the late morning/early afternoon at the Southside Aquatic Center. This place is our favorite pool/water park in our region and we enjoyed taking a few hours to just splash in the water and go down some slides. After we finished up we cooled off with a round of Italian sodas.

We spent time at the Southside Aquatic Center on July 5.

Wet July 6 – I have written before about the sparkling pool oasis owned by Ms. Kathy, the longtime next door neighbor of my parents. Well, on Saturday, we had her entire pool to ourselves as we visited for our own private swim session. Sloan had a blast jumping off the diving board and flying down the slide while Beau played with toys on the pool steps. We later ventured to Q’emlin State Park in Post Falls, Idaho. This beach area was great for the whole family. Sloan swam in the water, Beau built sand castles, I sipped refreshing beverages, and Sid relaxed in her beach chair. Afterwards we had a family dinner at Red Robin.

Our Saturday of the Fourth of July weekend was spent at a private pool and Q’emlin State Park.

Restful July 7 – After three days of sun, fun, and water, we tried to take it easy for the final day of our Fourth of July weekend. We attended our usual 9 a.m. mass at St. Mary and then came home and watched “Back to the Future.” I then took the kids to Browns Park where they had too much fun with the splash pad. They made friends with some other children and made a game out of soaking themselves and then zooming down the slides “slip ‘n slide” style. We then capped the night off with grilled burgers.

The kids playing at the Browns Park splash pad in Spokane Valley on Sunday night.

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I would say we had an all-American Fourth of July weekend. Thanks to my children and wife for going on such a fun four-day ride with me. Let the summer continue! Don’t Blink.