Independence Day

Bobby planned out a holiday barbeque somewhat last minute. I think he started last week. I didn't even get around to mentioning it to my parents or brother until Thursday. I don't even think a time was actually chosen. Terrible, I know, but it came together.

When we got back from the store, Jessica and I started assembling the corn for the barbeque. My favorite way to cook corn - coated in a cilantro butter (just softened butter mixed with chopped cilantro), sprinkled with salt and pepper, and wrapped in aluminum foil. The easiest way also seems to be the messiest - you basically grab a glob of the cilantro butter with your hands and coat the corn. It really helped to have someone there to roll it so I didn't have to keep washing my hands in between sets.

We also had hot dogs, beef hot links, polska keilbasa, hamburgers, and potato salad. Pretty standard July 4th fare. In hindsight, I suppose we could have added some baked beans, but we seemed to do just fine without it.

For last minute we seemed to have a pretty good crowd - my parents, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew, Bobby's parents, brother & family, sisters (one with boyfriend in tow), and uncle. Oh, and Josh.

As the day wore on, my family and some of Bobby's family left, and some of our friends came by instead. They and the neighbors set off fireworks in the street (which, I must admit makes me very nervous - I just can't get comfortable with amateur fireworks). When they ran out of those we got out the big ladder and climbed onto the roof to watch the Disneyland fireworks.

Leftovers and the pie were pulled out as people got hungry again, leaving me with almost no leftovers (yes!). The boys made their way into the garage to jam, and Jessica and I tried to calm the kids and get them ready for bed. Jessica passed out while putting Chase to bed, and Caelyn laid down to watch Fantasia with me in the spare bedroom. I almost fell asleep too. When I realized she was asleep, I dragged myself back up. It was 11:30pm. I let the boys play another half hour, and then told Bobby that it was time to quiet down. I was fine if he wanted to stay up longer, but I wanted to go to sleep in my own bed, and that meant the music had to stop for now.

Turns out I wasn't the only one. Jon's girlfriend Oahn had been napping on the couch, and Bobby's sister had already headed out. Josh had to be up early so he could visit his neice and nephew in Oceanside in the morning. We said goodbye, closed up, and crashed.

Again, a late morning. Bobby and I are usually up between 7am and 7:30am, but this morning it was after 8am. The house was obviously a mess (though thanks to Terri's, Jessica's, and Erica's efforts yesterday, not too bad). I was sad to find that in pulling out leftovers, someone had pulled out the pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice my mom brought me yesterday, and left it on the counter. Overnight. This morning it was full of ants. No orange juice for me this morning.

I was out of eggs, so no big breakfasts this time. Brian went and picked up McDonald's breakfast for everyone, although I abstained and had some Trader Joe's Greek Style Plain Yogurt (I'm in love with this stuff) with blueberries and granola instead. I am opposed to the idea of eating McDonald's. I try to avoid most fast food in general - I really do believe that the prevalence of it has led to a number of health problems this country is facing - but for some reason McDonald's is the face of that problem for me, and I just can't eat it. (As a child, however, I literally begged my mom to take me there sometimes - I'm really glad she usually didn't.)

Now we are watching Beauty and the Beast, and Bobby has taken Caelyn with him to pick up Emma from her great-grandparents' house in Garden Grove (we like when she's there - shorter drives for us). Let the weekend begin.