My little family and I had some quality summertime bonding today. After awakening at the very acceptable hour of 8:30, mike began mowing the front yard-the very same yard that yours truly has been strategically watering to save from the heat-induced dormancy death that the back yard has succumbed to. And it looks pretty good, too! Meanwhile I packed up some food to represent lunch and we headed to the Angola parade. The hour long trip was pretty painless with Macy engrossed in a wholesome and moral-filled episode on the iPad courtesy of the "Watch Disney" app and the boys alternating between one of their favorite movies "Everybody's Hero" and attempting to inflict one of many WWE wrestling moves on each other despite the restraints of their seatbelts. I sat happily up front with my right ear tuned into my "Learn for Zumba" playlist and my left to the backseat. Reality, as it often does, gave us a big shout-out as we passed by a jeep with the top down driven by two young, shirtless and smiling guys with two young, bikini-top clad girls, blond hair blowing in the wind, not a care in the world. Their destination most likely party at the lake as they were pulling a bright yellow speed boat with quite the impressive speaker system perched up top. Mike and I both watched the jeep, the smiling boys, the carefree girls and finally the shiny boat pass us by our super cool mini van and speed up the road. I looked at Mike, then behind me at my kids, back to Mike and we both just had to laugh. It was a total Clark Griswold/Christie Brinkley moment.
But unlike the Griswolds, we did have an awesome day with the exception of inadvertently offending a young Mr. Tough Guy by at the parade. Apparently both Macy and I stepped on his wife's blanket as she sat in front of us doing her best to manage two very small children while Tough stood still farther behind smoking his cigarettes, too caught up in maintaining that exhausting bad-ass, squinted eye, pissed off persona to help her out with their kids. She all of a sudden picked up and walked off but were happy at the chance to move our chairs closer to the street and into some shade. We were quite surprised when Mr. Tough appeared at our backs out of nowhere and began an in-your-face confrontation that at first we couldn't understand. Well, apparently it was "ridiculous" that both myself and Macy had stepped on their blanket, the one that was on the ground and we owed them an apology. Well, not being the type to ruin someone's parade, I made sure to stand up, gush an over-apology both to the man and his wife, and in the end I even forced the guy to shake my hand, which completely threw him off guard and seemed to confuse him as well. Ha! I invited them back to their spot and PROMISED not to step on or near their blanket but they quietly declined. So I was able to sit guilt-free and watch the parade in the shade while my kids scored way too much candy and even a few mini beach balls. Who can guess the moral of this story??
Next stop... Silver Beach at St. Joseph Michigan. Awesome town, awesome beach... and bout a zillion people!! We found a cramped little spot close to the water and spent the next two hours frolicking in the gloriously cool, clear waters as a family. I sat out for some (HOT) sun a few times but not for long. We even got in a family game of keep-away before shaking off the sand and heading out. We grabbed a quick dinner at Qdobas and returned home to shower the sand from where the sun don't shine:)
And that is how a successful, fun-filled, firework-free 4th of July has come to a close.
