Fourth of July

Andy and I moved into our new house two years ago this August. We absolutely love our new neighborhood. Almost everyone has kids, a lot of them work from home, and they're just generally very friendly people. However, we were warned by the sellers of our house that things can go a bit over the top on the Fourth of July. All the neighbors come out into the cul-de-sac, have barbecues, and set off their own fireworks. one of our neighbors likes to make some of his own. In addition, we have a fading 16-year old shake roof... perfectly prone to catch fire. i think in order to appreciate how paranoid I get on the Fourth of July here, you also have to understand that I grew up in Southern California, where amateur fireworks were banned due to fire hazard. There, you had to watch one of the big shows to get your fireworks. I also heard a lot of propaganda about how fireworks start fires and injure people. So, naturally, they are already not my favorite thing in the world. Add overzealous neighbors, teenagers lighting fireworks unsupervised, a shake roof, and a wind that blows all fireworks in the cul-de-sac right at our house... and you have a great recipe for a Dzana panic attack. Of course Andy is aware of my freakish paranoia, so he is telling me about how we can move the car, how he's gong to hose down the roof and keep the hose out during the night, etc... all in an attempt to keep me calm.

I appreciate his efforts, but last year it didn't really work. I had to go inside because it was all making me so nervous. One of our neighbors had really pulled out all of the stops. There were homemade concoctions, reservation bought items, and very few mild firecrackers. What made me most nervous were all of the kids running around with fireworks setting them off wherever they pleased. So, this year I was trying really hard to be excited... but I was actually incredibly nervous for the week preceding.

The day started out really nice. Andy's dad was still in town. We had a very lazy and wonderfully relaxing morning and afternoon. Lynnae and I made cupcakes and then she and charlie frosted them. Charlie was especially funny with the sprinkles. When we ate them we had to brush some of them off. He used a whole bottle of sprinkles on 6 cupcakes! it was hard for me to keep him from eating what he was supposed to be frosting, he was very excited! The kids played outside for awhile, I took some pictures (of course.) Andy and his dad barbecued carne asada for us and we had a little Mexican feast... it was very good! Every year since we started dating, Andy and I have enjoyed the Twilight Zone marathon on the Fourth of July... first on KTLA and then when it moved to the Sci Fi channel. (We are both obsessed with the Twilight Zone, and even though we own every episode on DVD, the marathon is an important tradition we don't miss!) We weren't sure how the kids would take to it... but they loved it! So we watched a few episodes of that as well.

Then it was zero hour, time to go outside, socialize and deal with the neighborhood's fireworks. I gave Lynnae about a 15 minute lecture on firework accidents. And then I let her loose. Charlie stayed with Andy, me, or grandpa the whole time. You know what? There were still some really idiotic kids doing stupid things with bottle rockets and roman candles... but they were farther away from us this time. And the other fireworks were way more in control than the previous year. Lynnae had fun with all the neighborhood girls as well. Boone was outside enjoying his socializing with the other neighborhood dogs for most of the night. Overall it was a great holiday!

............Pictures will be posted after adoption is finalized....................