Happy Independence Day, America!

What a nice, long weekend! I took Thursday off and made it a five day weekend. My favorite thing to do  with Monday or Friday holidays.

We kicked off the weekend by having a small pizza party with my dad and J and little man. Asking my dad what kind of pizza he wanted,  I got a firm "Pepperoni!" He doesn't have pizza very often. He said it's too much to order a pizza for one person and have to go get it. He's almost eighty (yikes!) and would not think of ordering delivery. So I try to have him over for pizza throughout the summer and let him enjoy it as often as possible. Little man and I shared a small cheese pizza. I ate three pieces and he ate three pieces. He's turning out to be quite a competitor.

We went out to dinner with some friends the next evening. I had shopped most of the day and prepared a lot of food for the family barbecue on Friday so I was very happy to go out to eat. Dinner was relaxing and fun and filled with lots of conversation, catching up with each other and laughing a lot. These friends winter in Florida so we had a lot to talk about. The guys barely got a word in. 

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Friday morning found the Man and I putting out the flags that run along the edge of the road. I've seen this at various houses around town and love, love, love it. The yard looks dressed up when the flags are out. And full of pomp and circumstance.

Can you see that brown, crunchy, dead looking grass? It sounds like cornflakes when you walk on it. Ugh. But all is well. We got some rain and it perked right up to a nice shade of alive looking green.

Pretty fresh flowers for vases around the house and on the porch.

Daisies. Simple. Sweet.

And blue mason jars. My favorite.

Sissy made a fabulous charcuterie board. Or rather, she made three fabulous boards. I had typical picnic fare, hamburgers and hotdogs and many, many sides.  I made cherry and blueberry cheesecake in a jar and K brought a yummy blueberry dump cake. E brought two kinds of homemade ice cream, strawberry and coffee with oreo cookies.

We ate a lot of food.

We got the sparklers out and little man loved watching the girls twirl and dance around the yard trying to amuse him. 

He was amused.

Later in the evening the girls wanted to try some sparkler writing. We had loads of fun trying to come up  different shapes and words to write. This was one of the best.

July 4th found the Man and I, along with J and his girlfriend A, taking a driving tour exploring Nathan Hale's part in the American Revolution. We started at the homestead and listened to the Declaration of Independence read aloud followed by a few tunes by the fife and drum corps. 

The flags are for veterans of war. So many flags.

Just down the road from the homestead is Nathan Hale's memorial. You can see it in the background.

The tour included a stop at the Revolutionary War Office for this part of the country. 

Photo was taken through a very murky looking window. But I loved the clothing on the bench so I took it anyway.

My traveling companions for the morning.

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We got home early in the afternoon. K dropped little man off so he could have a sleepover. We were all very excited.

But that's a story for another day.