Happy (belated) 4th!

Sorry I'm a couple days late with this post, but it's tough when the 4th of July falls on a Wednesday and you have to be at work at 7:30 AM the next day.

We had a really nice 4th of July this year. Chris and Finn hung our new door the evening before, so all we had left to do was install the deadbolt. Chris did most of it and did a great job in spite of his little problem with reading the instructions and actually following them (remember the Valentine dinner). He didn't even make that big of a mistake, but he was so angry with himself for not following the instructions and thus not doing it perfectly. He was also worried about drilling the holes so I ended up doing that part. I thought guys like to do stuff like bore holes in door frames? No matter -- I like to do it too, so it all worked out.

After finishing the door, we headed out to the dog park to let Cowboy cool off in the water. While at the dog park, we like to hide from him when he gets too far in front of us. It is kind of mean...but funny. He suddenly realizes that he doesn't see us anymore and his ears go full mast as he looks for us. He backtracks, and if he can't find us right away he'll start running back to where we came from so we have to stop him before he gets too far. No, he's not exactly a tracking dog (he never smells us and rarely sees us -- I think he relies on his ears to get around).

Once we got to the water, he spent a long time doing his Superman belly crawl in the shallow water. He does it every time, and every time people laugh and we try to pretend that he's not our dog.

To celebrate the 4th, Carrie got us VIP tickets to the Wamu Family 4th at Gasworks Park. We drove to Wallingford and ended up driving most of the way home again before we could find parking. So we ended up walking most of the way to Gasworks and entered the flood of people at the park. Ben told us to head back to the VIP area where our tickets would be waiting, so we worked our way through the masses of people who'd been there all day to stake out a piece of grass for the fireworks show.

We got to the VIP area and the difference was amazing: plenty of space, tables and chairs set up on the lawn, free Wamu fleece blankets, live jazz music, a caricaturist, and a free catered dinner with open bar. Plus, we were set up right next to the water, so we had an unobstructed view of the city skyline and the fireworks barge.

The VIP area was teeming with local celebrities too! Well, there were two that I recognized, but that's more "teeming" than my average day. Mayor Greg Nickels was there looking rather mayoral, and to my delight, John Curley was there! From Evening Magazine! I've had a crush on him for over a decade and I giggled like a schoolgirl when I saw him. Chris rolled his eyes, Ben & Aran looked at me like I'm crazy, and Carrie & Kirsten just laughed. At least Chris was indulgent enough to take a picture of me with John in the background.

The show itself was amazing. It started off with the Star Spangled Banner sung by the Total Experience Gospel Choir. Then we heard copter blades, and in came a military transport helicopter pulling a HUGE American flag! The helicopter circled Lake Union, ending with a fly-by right over our heads. It was incredible. As a military kid who grew up saluting the flag at sundown (I was rarely awake for Reveille) and standing for the National Anthem before every gathering (including the movies), I was in awe.

The helicopter with the flag would have been enough to make my night, but we still had the fireworks to come. And WOW, what fireworks! They were choreographed to music, and they were simply amazing (one ironic twist is that most of the music was not American). There's just something about fireworks that makes me feel like a little kid again.

We had a great time (thanks so much Carrie!), but I did have to work the next morning so we left right after the fireworks show. We joined the masses again and slowly forced our way up the hill to our car, then drove the remaining 6 blocks to our house (we should have just walked the entire way).

I took a lot of pictures and video of the helicopter and the fireworks, but they are on my other laptop so I can't post them yet. I'll post them soon.

This weekend Chris and I are heading to central Washington to camp out, swim in the Sun Lakes, and enjoy 90+ degree weather with Mark, Erin and Finn. Should be a good time! Although I bet Cowboy will be really really hot.