Happy 239th Birthday America!

Another Birthday for America is in the books! We have a habit of traveling on the 4th, and realized the last time we'd been at home (well at the lake and not out of town) was before we were married! We end up at the beach most years (2011, 2013, 2014), but there was that one firework-less year (due to forest fires) that we spend in New Mexico and we made the most of it with a hilarious firework impression contest.

My toes' firework impression was nearly the only show we got this year!

The boys stocked up on an arsenal of fireworks, including several "grand finales" because apparently 3 isn't enough. We pre-celebrated on the 3rd with some friends and a great band at the lake. I even ran into an old teammate from my HC basketball days who I had not seen in years!  It was so much fun catching up with her (but somehow managed to not take a pic....fail).  We ate pizza and danced the night away while dodging raindrops.  Little did we know that was just the beginning of the rain for the weekend.

We took our time heading up to the lake on Saturday, and arrived a little before lunch. We waited out a morning shower in our friends' camper and then headed across the lake for lunch with some other friends.  They cooked some delicious fish and I got to FINALLY do something that I've been wanting to try for a while.  I paddle boarded!  I started talking about getting one earlier this summer, but after checking out the prices figured I better try it first. It was a lot of fun and a great workout, and I am hooked! I can't wait to go again!

I look like a pro, right?

After we dominated the paddle boards (and thanked our hosts of course) we headed back to the campsite for a fun afternoon of swimming and kayaking, but the weather didn't hold up much longer. As the guys were firing up the grill for dinner the clouds started to roll in, and by the time dinner was ready it was monsooning....like so much water on the tent it's caving in monsooning while the wind simultaneously attempted to carry the tent away. Some friends who were in town called to tell us there was flooding and high winds on the way so there was no reason to stick around. As much as we hated it, we packed up and headed to the house after we ate. We ended up over at some friends' house for leftovers and watched fireworks on tv. The boys couldn't stand the thought of not setting off any of the fireworks on the 4th, so we shot a few off in the driveway in the rain and took one of the finales down to their neighbors' house and let their kids shoot it off.

The boys were itching to do something on Sunday since the 4th literally ended up being a wash. The weather was kind of iffy and not exactly conducive for sitting by the pool (our usual Sunday activity). We ended up at Huddle House for a brunch and after some scheming decided on bowling, followed by a sushi dinner. I am usually a sushi wimp, but I was quite impressed with the selection at Sushiyama. Between the sushi and fried rice (served with YumYum Sauce), I ate myself sick, but it was absolutely delicious!

He's a pro.

After dinner the boys FINALLY got to let their little inner-pyromaniacs run free as we shot off the last of the grand finales, much to our neighbors' delight.

Someday I won't get anxious when taking selfies and will get a clear one.