Friends, Food, and Fireworks

To celebrate this 4th of July, I went to a cookout and was able to watch a fireworks display. Anna and Blair had a friend come up Friday night. So we all went to dinner, watched the drum circle (because everyone needs to see it once!), and grabbed some drinks downtown. We ran into another teacher at the drum circle who joined us as well.

Saturday morning I got up to join Maggie and Crystal for our walk. We set a new "schedule" to meet on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings to go walking (almost jogging!). It's a great time to hang with good friends and get some exercise at the same time. I stopped by the store to get something for the cookout I had forgotten and saw the strawberries and blueberries. I had already told Ann and Brad that I would bring slaw and pasta salad that night. When I saw the fruit I decided to make a flag cake. I saw this a few years ago and have wanted to make one, but never went anywhere exciting for the 4th. So, this year was my chance! It turned out to be a hit, but how hard is it really to bake a cake and slap some cool whip and fruit on top?!

Pattie and I headed over to Anna's house to let Clemson and Pattie play for a bit before we all headed over to the cookout. Ann and Brad got a chocolate lab puppy last Sunday so it was her debut to the world that night! She is a cutie pie! I can't wait until she gets bigger and Pattie gets to meet her! Maggie, Justin, and their two boys were at the cookout as well. The food was fabulous! There is just something about food cooked on the grill!

When it got close to dark, we packed up our stuff and headed over to Crystal and Danny's house for fireworks. They were coming to the cookout but got wrapped up in yard work, so at least we got to see them for the show! They have a great view from their house of a couple of firework displays. Owen (Crystal's oldest son) and Miles (Maggie's oldest) were so excited to see each other! They were the dancing entertainment before the real show. Owen snuggled up with me and watched the fireworks. They were beautiful! There's something about fireworks too!