4th of July Weekend

Neither of my parents have ever been the type to invite everyone over for a 4th of July cookout.  And that's okay.  We get to do plenty of fun things with them throughout the year.  But Tammy and I manage to find lots of fun to be had with our little family.  One year, her friend and former college roommate Allison drove out from Ohio and stayed with us for about a week around Independence Day, and we all had a blast going to other people's cookouts and watching small towns blow up thousands of dollars worth of fireworks.



This year, we started off with the usual Friday routine of being tired and eating pizza.  Very relaxing.

Saturday morning, Tammy, Anna and Lillian (Tammy's mom) went shopping, and I visited a semi-reclusive friend and worked on my truck.  We met up in b-burg for lunch and went to our friends' 4th of July cookout/going away party/birthday party for their middle daughter.  Matt (a good friend) and I headed out shortly after we got there to line up for the parade.  Matt was riding in a 76 El Camino that his dad finished restoring, and I was riding my company's float.  After throwing candy and enjoying a small town parade in the blazing heat, I headed back to the party, and Tammy dropped Anna off with her grandma for a nap.



It was time for waterball.  In Pittsboro, waterball isn't a firefighter competition.  It's open to anyone who can come up with 4 players and sign a waiver.  Waterball is NOT what you find if you search for it on Google.  This is a form of backward tug or war with fire hoses.  A big steel ball about 24 inches wide hangs on pulleys from a horizontal cable and teams try to push it into their opponents' territory or their side of the playing area.   You try to have better aim, better angle, and overwhelm your opponent and force the ball onto their side.   You also get a goalkeeper with another fire hose in case you get into trouble.  The team who pushes it into the opponents' side the longest after the match ends (3 minutes in our case) wins. 
It was over 90 degrees, so waterball was the perfect activity/spectator event.  We went 1-1 and had a blast.
That night, it was time to take Anna to the fireworks.   She LOVED them last year, but we weren't sure if she would react the same this time.  She quickly erased any doubts about her affinity for brightly colored aerial explosions.

Sunday, we relaxed, got some house work done, and then kept Anna up late again for some backyard fireworks.  She was delighted.  After she went to bed we visited with some friends around the fire and the grill until around 3 AM.  Lots of noisy story telling and goofing off.  I'm glad I don't live in one of those neighborhoods with houses all around.  The few neighbors we have know they can be noisy on the weekends whenever they want  as well.

Right back up on Monday, the actual 4th of July.  Tammy, Anna, and Lillian went maternity clothes shopping and came back for nap time.  Then Matt and I headed up to Kokomo to look at a 64 F100 from California for sale (I can't help it).  We got back and went to the Downtown Indy fireworks show: Tammy, Anna, myself, Ben, Lillian, Matt, Marie, Jennette, Jeff, Clive, Travis, and Clayton.  What a way to put an exclamation point on an already awesome weekend.

July 4th weekend set the bar pretty high.  Next Saturday, Anna might be a little disappointed that not every weekend henceforth is going to be so packed with fun.

Well, off to bed I go.  I've gotta go be a work from home dad in about 6 hours.