Our long Fourth of July weekend started a day early – I had taken the day off work to go to court to get my name changed and then spent the rest of the day running around town changing my name with the DMV and banks and everything. By the time I was done, it was nearly dinner. It had been such a hot day (and our first day of nice weather in who knows how long) that James and I went to Squantz Pond State Park. Lots of families were taking advantage of the nice weather and grilling for dinner at the park. We brought some food and even managed to go in the water – James sat on a giant rainbow floatie. A lifeguard tried to tell him that it wasn’t allowed but some random guy in the water was like “duuuuddeee let himmmmm, he’s got a messed up leggggg”.
Thursday was the actual Fourth of July. Our town has a parade but the parking for it is at the top of this huge hill and there’s no way James would have easily been able to make the trek down and then back up the hill. Plus it was way too hot. We went to a friend’s house for a cookout. He has an inground pool and the floatie from the previous day made the trip so James could cool off in the water. We brought Lilly with us and she even went in the pool! Later in the evening, we stayed inside, playing pool and arcade games. I’m not sure exactly what it is but it appears to be a computer with a TV screen and some modded game controllers built into an old arcade game facade that lets you play thousands of games. I’m definitely a fan. Once it got dark, we drove Lilly home so she wouldn’t panic during the fireworks. Our friends set off a HUGE fireworks show in their backyard. Many of their neighbors joined in so fireworks were going off all around us!
I made the mistake of not requesting Friday off from work…I was the only counselor in and the office was DEAD. I could not wait for the end of the day. James and I went to see Toy Story 4 that night. The movie was definitely made for the now-adults that were kids when the first movies came out. I loved it! I so rarely go to the movies that I was actually confused when we go to the theater…now they have assigned seats and there was like character merchandise for sale at the theater?? I’m sorry…when did going to the movies get so fancy?? Saturday was for the most part a day for cleaning but at night we met up with a friend (Jeff) that was visiting for the weekend.
On Sunday, we went out on Doug’s boat with Jeff, Will, Matt, and Ashley. We mostly hung out at Chicken Rock. The boys (minus James) jumped off the rock. I went off the rope swing and was very proud of myself for doing so! There was a girl that climbed to the top of Chicken Rock that wasn’t jumping off – that isn’t so unusual but one of her friends yelled her name (Chloe) over a loudspeaker and the entire bay started cheering for her to jump. She was up there for at least an hour before we left…I still don’t know if she’s jumped off that rock. Maybe Chloe just lives on top of Chicken Rock now. Once we got in from the lake, we went to 440 for dinner with the boys and our friend Bill.
All in all, a great, American, holiday weekend.
Until our next adventure!
The Harkin Chronicles 