4th of July

Following our lovely anniversary outings, the 4th of July celebrations came next!

This is a slight problem for Andrew and I - something we wish we would have discovered before we chose our wedding date (Bert, we have often said we should have let you guys keep the 1st!). It may seem like a great idea to have your wedding/anniversary fall on a holiday weekend, and it worked out for our wedding - some out of town guests made a weekend out of it and our families had an extra day to recover. You may think that this would still work in our favor - a long weekend and extra day off to celebrate....not so much.

The 4th is a big holiday for EVERYONE - not just this couple trying to celebrate their nuptials. Every year we run into the problem of over priced hotels/vacation destinations, TRAFFIC, crowds, other celebrations, etc. We have decided that we start celebrating a different weekend - just so that we could enjoy it a little bit more and keep the 4th of July festivities to themselves...

Anyways, with all of that, we did have a lot of fun on the 4th. We have spent 4/5 past 4th of July's in CA and they all hold dear memories. Beaches, parades, fireworks, FOOD, and of course, friends, all make the day a load of fun.

Katie and I at Redondo Beach - July 4, 2008

Andrew and Joel and the South Pasadena 4th of July Parade, 2009

Moores, Novaks, Wrights and Retts' - July 4th 2010

This year was nothing less then wonderful, as well.

Our dear friend, Joey, was preaching at his church on Sunday morning and many of us went to hear him/support him. It was really neat to attend church with the people who we interact with the most and to spend time worshipping together. Andrew and I have really struggled with the whole church issue in our 5 years in CA and it was refreshing to get up and go to church with our community of friends.

Following church, the gang made their way up the hill to "The Raymond" where a delicious spread of food soon formed. I love parties with our friends --- NEVER a lack of food and ALWAYS a delicious assortment. This time around I have to give a shout out to LeahBeth and her almond-bark-covered popcorn...yummy!

We had a great afternoon - played in the pool, all of the kids (big boys especially) enjoyed some backyard baseball, the weather was perfect, and we later headed over to Sierra Madre for some music in the park (although the music selection was a bit odd....). Finally, the night was completed by some delicious Papa John's Pizza, sleeping babies, and watching the Rosebowl fireworks from our driveway while munching on more of that popcorn treat around a campfire.

Rating for the day: 9/10 - only could have been improved by having food vendors at the Sierra Madre park, as we had been informed and planned on!