July 2013 . OWENSBORO PARENT 1www.OwensboroParent.com

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Its no secret that I love Independence Day. If the 4th of July celebrations at my house are an indication of the level of my admiration for the holiday, then Ill let the fireworks speak for themselves. For me, theres not many things better than celebrating our nations revolution from tyranny and asserting our natural and legal rights. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

And as we reflect on this statement of principle we are reminded of the sacrifices made to defend these rights. Simply visit Yellow Creek Baptist Church on God and Country Day and watch as those who served in the armed forces stand under their military branchs flag in front of the church to get a sense of the proud heritage of our nation. And Im proud to say I come from a line of military men. My grandfather and his brothers were soldiers. My uncle served as did my cousins. My cousin Jake is currently deployed in Afghanistan.

The sacrifices made are sometimes hard to believe. This is the story of my grandads brother:

The young Infantryman (Corporal Truman Tanner) was an anti-tank gunner, but functioned chiefly as a rifleman during eight months of combat in Holland and Germany. His proudest accomplishment with the M1 rifle was the single-handed capture of seven armed Nazis one day in Germany.

It was 4 oclock in the afternoon and we were mopping up in a town we had just taken, he declared. I was poking around in the basement of a house, when I heard some noise behind a partition. I investigated and came face to face with seven Heinies, all carrying rifles. When I told them the house was surrounded they came out meekly with their hands up.

Actually I was alone there but some buddies heard the commotion and came to my assistance. Brother, was I glad to see them.

I get goose bumps every time I read that. His courage is what makes our country great. Lets work hard not to forget these stories. Lets honor these sacrifices in the way we live and how we treat our fellow Americans. Let us all serve.

Happy Independence Day!

Jason Tannerjason@owensboroparent.com

Publisher/Creative Director

Jason Tanner

jason@owensboroparent.com

Editor

Ashley Sorce

ashley@owensboroparent.com

Advertising Sales

Robert Williams

robert@owensboroparent.com

Graphic Designer

Taylor West

taylor@owensboroparent.com

Distribution Manager

Steven Morris

Contributors

Katie Albers

Dr. Brian Gannon

Christina Dalton

Elaine Martin

Danny May

Jaime Rafferty

Melody Wallace

Printing

Greenwell Chisholm

Owensboro, Kentucky

Contact Information

Owensboro Parent Magazine

PO Box 23237

Owensboro, KY 42304

(270) 314-5240

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Jason Tanner

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july 2013

July 2013 . OWENSBORO PARENT 7www.OwensboroParent.comwww.OwensboroParent.com

parent talk [8]

our beach vacation [10]

parental control [12]

new faith in old glory [14]

oh, the places shell go [16]

coach of the year [18]

facebook photos [22]

what does talent look like [24]

a new take on old classics [26]

tick-free summer [34]

july 2013 calendar [38]

[31]

[18][14]

[12]

july features

[24]

[34]

8 OWENSBORO PARENT . July 2013 www.OwensboroParent.com

june 2013

In honor of Independence Day, we asked you what Fourth of July traditions you share

with your family. Here are a couple of our favorite answers from Facebook.

parent talk

Independence Day basically means a week long celebration for our family! My birthday is on the 1st, my cousins is on the 2nd, and my Mothers birthday happens to fall on the 3rd. On the 4th we honor service members, ranging from Navy to Army in both my and my husbands family. And to top it all, I also worked for years in the firework business, which has greatly increased my knowledge of which ones the kids enjoy and we will always have some for them to watch. So all in all it is a time for celebration, remembrance, and enjoying our friends and family. Whether its planned or spur of the moment we always end up at our home with fireworks, everyone bringing a dish, and smiles all around as we have our safe home display.- Monica Watkins

Fourth of July is an annual celebration, that happens every year on the Layman Farm. Every year friends, family, relatives and neighbors show up for the excitement of fun, food and awesome fireworks! There are even strangers who show up to celebrate with us, but its okay, the more the merrier is how we feel. We love meeting new people. EVERY year (going on 7 years now) the guys will go the Friday night before, along with their trucks and trailers to pick up the fireworks, usually totaling around

$1,200 worth. The men start out by cooking a case of chickens in the early morning along with two deer hams and four Boston butts. Everyone else (the ladies) will get with me a month in advance, letting me know what side item they want to bring... Its usually the same every year, so I already have an idea anyway. We usually have at least 100 people and even sometimes more. Its always so much fun for both children and adults-- from playing on the bouncy house, jungle gym, water balloon fights to playing corn hole or volleyball or just sitting and catching up with friends and family! The night ends with all kids wearing glow bracelets and a necklace (for safety and fun) along with lawn chairs and blankets lined up on the lawn for an eventful show! Being able to share this event every year is a blessing to us. Our freedom is so very important and sharing it with our loved ones is truly amazing. Its really nice to have everyone come together helping out, so that this event can happen annually. Our children are 6 and 4, and we want to show them that family is very important. No matter how busy life gets, we all know that there is at least that one weekend out of the summer we can set the distractions and work aside for our all-American backyard BBQ! We would love to show Owensboro how we celebrate our 4th of July. - The LaymansPaul, Ginny, Eli and Shelby

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Summer means many things to our familyexponential growth of freckles, sleeping in as late as we want, two months of looking at my humid frizzy ponytail, and

occasionally, a summer beach trip.

One particular trip stands above the rest in our memory.

It is lovingly referred to as The Grandma Trip. We were

travelling with family friends, minus the Dads. We traded our

hubbies for our mothers, so we had two grandmas, two moms,

and six kids. Yep, we were a party on wheels.

The climax of the trip was our day at Sanibel Island. We

had poured over brochures of the joyful, tanned families and

were convinced our day on the island would be just as photo

worthy. Rest assured, we do have one magnificent photo of the

day, but it is not anything you will ever see in a brochure.

We finally hit the beach yep, the glorious shores where

we planned to find tons of seashells to fill our plastic buckets.

We set up camp with our blankets, towels, picnic basket, and

rainbow beach umbrella. At the word GO! we paired up and

went exploring, swimming, and seashell hunting.

The next few hours of our beach day were calm. One

child we nicknamed the Digger. He was convinced that with

a tiny shovel, he would find a secret pathway to China and

fortune cookies. Another child was the Feeder. She ignored

our warnings as well as the posted signs and threw her food to

the birds. Needless to say, we had every winged creature on

the western coast of Florida sitting with us under our tilted

umbrella.

The sun eventually moved lower into the sky, and the beach

had become fairly empty. As people were exiting, we saw one

person coming in our direction with several large cases. As we

watched her unpack, she was pulling out items quite unlike

ours her trunks included white tablecloths, folding chairs

and table, and a lot of tulle. All at once, it clicked she was

setting up a beach wedding!

We were about 40 yards away from this impromptu

wedding,