happy 4th!

Happy July 4th to all!

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays, [it is a close second behind Thanksgiving].

When I was younger we would spend the holiday weekend on the lake, eating bbq, and roasting marshmallows over a crackling fire. My cousins, sisters, and I would fight for the best position on the dock and wait for the fireworks, [fireworks my dad and uncles would illegally set off]; life was good.

The 4th was and is always a holiday I love.

Mine and Tony’s holiday weekend started on Wednesday afternoon – Dave Matthews came to town.

Tony and I joke that we have close to nothing in common – it’s TRUE! – but one of the few things that keeps us from saying we have absolutely nothing in common is our love for Dave Matthews. Usually we drive across the state of Wisconsin and watch him perform at an outdoor venue [it’s amazing], but this summer, with all the craziness we have, a Wednesday night concert during the week of the 4th of July seemed appropriate. The music was great, Dave rocked it – like always – and we hit our pillows hard when we got home.

However, the 4th is never complete without time on the lake.

Tony, Ace, and I got home from his family cabin last night. We enjoyed a day of boating, laughing, and sunshine. It is a beautiful thing to spend time with family. One of the highlights of the day was Ace and the water. I swear all of our kiddie pool dippin’ has helped his fear of water disappear. He used to HATE it, but the second we arrived he walked right in and spent a good amount of the day wading around in the shallows, chewin’ and spittin’ out seaweed. He even jumped off the dock! [Even though he may have gotten a little encouragement – a hip bump from Tony’s brother]. We were proud parents of our little guy!

Then, today, the fourth of July…

We originally had plans to join some of my relatives in Southern Minnesota on a lake and soak up more sunshine, but this morning we changed our minds.

I woke up feeling a titch ‘off’ and didn’t want to chance being far away from home if it got worse, AND, we simply decided to be selfish; take a day for ourselves & just lounge.

It was hard to commit at first. We are both lake babies; we are used to being on water, and this day of all days deserved to be celebrated on a lake, but we dove in head first and forced ourselves to relax at home. Tony spent some time on the couch napping and playing video games and I finished up some bachelorette party planning & playing with Ace and his bubbles.

We met some friends for an early dinner to break up the day, [also lake babies who were stuck in suburbia for the holiday], sat on the patio & tossed the Frisbee around, and are finishing up the night watching fireworks from our living room window.

We will be enjoying a bbq with my family tomorrow afternoon to top off a relaxing weekend.

Life is still good.

Happy 4th y’all!

xo