small towns and big projects

The town Mark and I live in is home to approximately 7000 people. It has a lovely downtown area, complete with ice cream parlor, hair salons, a book shop, little restaurants, the local bank... and in the center of the square - a courthouse, complete with bell/clock tower. We l-o-v-e it.
Last night, we sat on the curb at the corner of Jefferson and Ash Streets, and watched the 4th of July parade.
We were pelted with candy, sprayed with hoses from the fire engines (somehow doesn't seem quite legal to me....), and we tried (but failed) to count the tractors that went by. It was a fantastic, fun, small-town parade - full of pride and a sense of community.
The parade was followed with ice cream, laughs, and watching the fireworks with some of our soon-to-be-in-high-school friends. Very fun (although fireworks that start after 10:00pm make Katie sleepy the next morning).
As for big projects - we've started (and I use the term "we" pretty loosely here) to finish our basement. We'll be adding a bedroom and a half-bath, and leaving the other side of the basement open for storage and flex-space. Hard to believe our little house will be a daunting, 4-bedroom, 2.5 bath masterpiece soon (ha!) Anyway - some of the walls are framed in already, and lumber, nails and sawdust abound. I'm really excited to see the finished result.