Happy 4th of July!

I hope all you blog friends out there had a very happy and safe 4th of July!

My 4th of July started off with a mid-morning trip to Wal-Mart, to get what we needed for dinner that night. Phil and I headed off, and couldn't believe how crowded and busy the place was. With this new Wal-Mart opening, it hasn't been super busy, even on the weekends, because there is another Wal-Mart about 20 minutes away. So people on one side of the town can go to that one, and everyone over here can go to the new one. So we ventured in and I swear, almost everyone there had a watermelon in their cart, including us. I never realized just what a 4th of July staple watermelon is. People were buying them so much, that while we were there, we saw four guys bringing out palettes of watermelon and refilling the bins, while people just stood around them in anxious anticipation, wanting to get their hands on the fattest melon.

We finally got home and unloaded all the groceries, and then it was time for mom and I to start preparing food. We made our homemade potato salad, and then we also cut up the watermelon into pieces for dessert. So mom is cutting up the melon, and she is giving me the rinds that have fruit still left on them, so I am munching away, and this watermelon was juicy! My shirt was all wet and I was sticky and with all the water in the melon, I got full fast! She finishes cutting up the rest of the melon and when she was done, she took her cutting board to throw away all the seeds on it, and I hear her say "Help me, Help me!", but too late, watermelon just flew off the cutting board and onto the floor. We were just laughing as we picked up the melon, and while she went to wash her hands, I decided to move the trash can out of the way, only to knock it over, so there goes more watermelon all over the kitchen floor! It was so comical! So I go get Phil and tell him I need him to take the trash out, not letting him in on the fact that I have now created a huge mess, so he walks in the kitchen and just shakes his head, because he knows me, and he knows I make a mess!

So after the watermelon fiasco, we make the potato salad and rest a bit before starting the hamburgers (turkey burgers for me). Out our kitchen window we can see that there are huge storm clouds brewing, so we tune into the Weather Channel to find there is a severe thunderstorm warning, and the storm seems to be heading this way. This storm looked huge, and since we all love storms, we were getting excited that perhaps this was finally going to be the first big monsoon storm of the summer. So we waited...and waited....and waited...the sky got darker, the wind kicked up a bit....but nothing! Once again, the storm just moved right past us!

The good thing about not getting a storm, however, was that Phil and I were able to go outside and see fireworks. About three miles from us is a farm called Schnepf Farms, they are famous for their peaches in the spring, and there is a lot of activities for kids and families there. Every year they have a 4th of July celebration, with fireworks going off at 9:15pm. The weather was nice and cool, about 87 degrees with a breeze, and lightening out in the distance from the storm that passed us by, so we decided to head down to the clubhouse. We live on a golf course and at the clubhouse you have a perfect spot to watch the fireworks, without paying the $10 a carload to get into event at the farm. We took Brandi, who had never seen fireworks before, and to make sure she was calm and wouldn't be scared by the fireworks and the loud noise, we walked her all the way there. And let me tell you, this was one happy pup! She loves walks anyway, but with it being so hot, she only gets short walks because the heat wears her out. But last night, with it being so cool, she was loving the long walk and fresh air. We got to the clubhouse and I poured some water into her bowl we brought along, and she took some big drinks and just sat next to me, watching the fireworks and the people who had also come down there to see the show. She didn't get scared by the noise at all, which I was so glad to see.

Once the show was over, we took Brandi back home, and she was out for the rest of the night, and in fact right now she is laying next to me on the bed, with her head on my pillow, sleeping away. She had a big night! And so did I, when we got home from seeing the fireworks we were watching a movie and I fell asleep, I was pooped! So today, and hopefully tomorrow, will just be a nice, relaxing weekend, and hopefully storms won't pass us by!