Playworks sells toys that invite play and enhance early childhood development [fun for all ages]

Memorial Day signals the beginning of summer and Labor Day its end. As much fun as these two national holidays are, probably our most popular and festive summer holiday is the Fourth of July with all the red, white, and blue decorations, flags flying, rousing patriotic music, fireworks bursting in air, and gatherings of family and friends.

After all, traditionally 4 July has been observed as our national birthday, and birthdays deserve celebrating. Still exactly how this date became our national birthday puzzles me. The first public reading of the Declaration of Independence occurred on 8 July 1776. The official signing of the Declaration did not occur on 4 July. John Hancock was the first of the 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress to sign, but he alone signed on 4 July 1776. The official event did not occur until 2 August, when 50 men signed. John McKean, the last to sign, didn't do so until January 1777. The Declaration had passed on 2 July, and that's the date John Adams thought would be remembered and celebratedas most significant, or so he expressed in a letter to his wife Abigail. Makes sense to me, yet that's not what happened.

Last Independence Day we urged our readers to "think about where you live and start a list of points of interest," then get out the door and begin exploring these United States. Whether you focused on sites within 10 miles of your home or "from sea to shining sea," there are possibilities aplenty. Where have your adventures taken you?

Share your adventures with us, and we'll send you a reusable Playworks tote bag to take along when next you "hit the road." We all might get wanderlust after learning more about places we've never been and people we've yet to meet or re-connecting with those we have. There's always something new to experience even in familiar places.

Whether exploring near or far, keep going. Life is short. As Woody Guthrie sang, "this land is your land. This land is my land. From California to the New York Island, from the redwood forest to the gulf stream water, this land was made for you and me." Let's get to know and appreciate our land. [For inspiration, check out Arlo Guthrie & Pete Seeger singing "This Land is Your Land" on You Tube.]