Fourth of July

I thought I'd take a moment and write about this past 4th.

It was Jeff and my first 4th as a couple. Unfortunately, he is on evenings this week, so we did not get to watch any fireworks together. He did end up getting the evening of Friday the 1st off, so we hung out together then. And during the mornings and early afternoons on the weekend. So, on the 4th, after I saw Jeff off to work, I headed to Boyne Falls to pick up Karlie from her dad's. I had called over there to see if Kaleb wanted to go with me as well, but he had plans with his "girlfriend" Breann.

Karlie and I headed over to Boyne City, to my mom's. My brother, Cory, and his wife, Jenny, and their two boys, Cory Jr. and Gary, and Jenny's two sisters, Kim and Tiffany, were there. After gathering all the necessary blankets, chairs, and snacks, we headed over to Veteran's Memorial Park.

There was a big craft sale, as there is every year, which is where you buy stuff you don't need, but like to have to decorate your walls, yards, gardens, bodies, hair, etc. I like to look around at all the hand-made crafts, but when I think about buying any of them, I realize I could make the same thing for much cheaper. (But, I don't do that either, due to time-or lack thereof.)

We did buy a Bayou Billy snow cone. Except they didn't call it a snow cone, and right now I can't remember their name for the shaved ice, covered in flavored syrup. At this booth, however, you could choose and apply your own flavor of syrup, and you could mix them up. The girls chose bubble gum and strawberry. Very interesting-the bubble gum over-powered the strawberry. I chose Green Apple and Strawberry. It was a good mix. Not a pretty color, but a good flavor.

Before we headed to the craft sale, we laid our blanket out and set our chairs to mark our spot on the grass. It was a cloudy day, but the temperature was just right. Not too hot, not too cold. We arrived fairly early, so we got a good spot to see the fireworks.

My oldest daughter, Trisha, and her fiance, Ben, showed up, with Kaleb. We all took Cory Jr. to the playground. It was obvious he's been there several times. At 20 months old, he knew his way around that wooden play set! He even went down the big, green, enclosed, slide all by himself! I was amazed, frankly. I don't think my kids went down big slides like that, all by themselves, at 20 months old! But, he did, and he came out laughing! It was great!

I didn't see very many people that I knew. I was surprised. I thought I'd see more, but there were so many people there. I'm sure if I walked around more, I may have run into more people I used to know. It's been a while since I've hung out in Boyne City!

The fireworks started at 10:30, and were great! They were big and bright, right over head! They lasted 45 minutes or so. Karlie and Kaleb had run off with their friends, so we waited a few minutes after the show was over for them, then we all headed home, in the never ending line of cars!