Happy Fourth Of July!

Yesterday we got an invite to go on a friend's boat and do the pre-July 4 fireworks preview on Pontiac Lake as many municipalities hold their shows on the 3rd.

Waiting for darkness to fall, we passed by this Cessna for sale:

Learning to fly is certainly on my bucket list, and an amphibian could be right handy, especially for the trip up to the parental unit's cottage.

A few people let of some fireworks as we passed by:

Then in the distance we saw quite a few, but the iPhone is not the right tool for catching the action:

It was a nice, relaxing lake cruise with good friends, and we're preparing to have some friends over today for a proper July 4 BBQ.

Have a great and safe Independence Day!

The Glorious 4th

Yesterday we had planned for a small group of friends to come over and celebrate the 4th with a backyard grilling extravaganza.

Unfortunately we went to sleep before midnight so I missed the text that the group would be diving at 9:30 am on the 4th...next time more notice guys.

So we slept in till 9:00, I awoke and saw the text, realized there was no way I would make it and went off to brew some coffee.

We then started cleaning the house and outside and preparing for the guests.

This involved cleaning the outdoor table and getting all the accumulated leaves and debris cleared off the front and back porches and I decided it would also be good to get some of the leaves and stuff out of the gutters considering it was calling for thunderstorms.

The day was truly hot and humid - 97+ degrees and what felt like 100% humidity, so I was well soaked by the time we were done.

Then I changed and prepared some burger patties from some freshly ground beast and awaited the guests.

The guests arrived and we had a good time, even though it was too hot and humid to eat outside.

So we ate inside and had delectable burgers, hot dogs, kielbasa and nice sides and desserts.

Then around 6:30 or so it started storming quite heavily.

Luckily, it cleared up around 8:30 which after having fully soaked the ground gave us time and a safe opportunity to do some fireworks for the kids - bottle rockets, ground blooms, sparklers and salutes - the kids loved it and it was nice that it was legal to do so this year.

It's always a positive thing when the law is actually in accord with what everyone is already doing.

I'm sure that many in Michigan were sad that people were responsibly having fun with fireworks, but too bad for them and their sad state of existence.

Next year we'll do some more serious fireworks as the kids want to see some good stuff.

Then it thunder-stormed yet again throughout the night and we awoke to find the clocks had been reset due to a power outage - oops.

So we rushed out all discombobulated and I'm right back to work, feeling like its a Monday somehow.

On with the week and I hope your 4th was as fine as mine.

Happy Independence Day!

An excellent Independence Day celebration indeed.

Morning was spent with the kids having a play date and making homemade ice cream with the kids helping to pour ingredients and stir the mixture and it came out great.

We then went to my friend Jeff's house in the afternoon to visit him, his lovely wife (who was sleeping -- deservedly so), and his very new baby Emma, who at 5 lbs and a few ounces is a little tiny baby full of new baby cuteness.

Then home to have a BBQ with the neighbors.

Once it was dark we enjoyed an impressive display of fireworks, both professional and enthusiastic amateurs. It appears a lot of the neighbors in our subdivision must have traveled to Ohio to get the good stuff -- Michigan is pretty restrictive on what sorts of fireworks you can buy and many of our neighbors gave this government edict the respect it deserved on Independence Day -- many a Roman Candle, Show cake and big firecracker was set off, and some of the well-to-do people across the lake apparently had a professional put on a display as they had the pro-grade stuff and it was impressively well done.

Then a few hours of poker into the wee hours and good friendship.

A great way to celebrate our nation's independence.

Happy Independence Day!