I think that the best way to spend the 4th of July is at the pool, relaxing and eating, with a little bit of sleeping (as long as you have a friend telling you to flip when you’re sufficiently crisp on one side). Katie allowed that dream to happen, she was gracious enough to invite us over to chill out and recover from being out late the previous night.
If you wanted to sleep, you could:
If you wanted to read, you could:
If you wanted to play, you could:
If you wanted to float, you could:
Then, on the evening festivities. Andrew’s parents offered us their house and we all agreed that this needed to happen:
Having our own fireworks display! Alright! I haven’t set off fireworks in years and it was just as fun now as it was back then.
We had our team of pyrotechs who wielded the power of the lighter or blow torch:
They set off quite a few displays that made us ooh and aah:
We even played with sparklers:
After setting off the finale and a visit from the cop (he had to respond to the neighbor’s call about us), we went and frolicked in the water again. (Can you tell that we are all water babies?)
And, of course, we enjoyed the warmth of a fire at the end of the night:
Here’s how you kick off the Fourth of July weekend: you go out with girls, see some fireworks, meet up with the boys and then karaoke the night away.
The girls got all gussied up and went out to Sugo’s for some wine and dinner.
One of the girls had heard that the pizza was delicious and it was decided, pizza it is. While some did order the pizza, I ordered the chicken piccata special, which I ended up splitting my dinner with Monika (she had a pizza). I do have to say that the recommendation was correct, the pizza was delicious. The chicken piccata was good but I wasn’t raving that I would need to order this dish again. It was a pretty laid back atmosphere and I will be coming back for more.
After dinner, we all headed downtown to see the fireworks and that was pretty much a coordination nightmare. The game was letting out, traffic was hellacious, there were people everywhere. One car of girls gave up and headed to the bar in the county, but we trudged on. The boys ended up coming down but that was a bitch meeting up with them. I spent more time worrying here Bob was, I missed quite a bit of the display. We will not be doing that next year.
Since the fireworks ended before ten, the night was still young so we all fought the traffic back to the county where we found the other car of girls. There we drank, sang, drank, talked, sang and drank even more.
Good times, people, good times. And we still had two more days off! Hell yeah!
One of the nice things about having a PGA professional for a friend is that when your wife and her friends want some golf lessons, you’re off the hook! Colin came out to the range and gave a beginner’s clinic for Jen, Katie, Sarah and Amanda on Saturday morning and I tagged along to hit a few myself. I was also the left-handed grip helper for Jen and Sarah, since they stand on the wrong side of the ball. Despite this, Jen’s natural form is a true sight to behold:
Each girl showed their own unique golfing style. And while some ended up with blisters (in fact, one might say that Katie’s entire golfing style is predicated on obtaining blisters), we all had a good time. The blisters and sunburns were well-earned, as was the celebratory Smoothie King afterwards.
Appetizer: Fruit and Cheese Plate. I was feeling lazy this week, probably due to my excitement for the upcoming three day weekend. So, I asked the cheesemonger at Schnucks to help me out. I ended up with brie, English Huntsman and Asiago with Rosemary and Olive Oil. These all pared very well with the strawberries and red grapes.
Entree: Curried Chicken Salad. A light curried chicken salad that wasn’t overly sweet and a good choice for the summer.
Dessert: Chai Cupcakes with Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting. A flavorful cupcake that was a bit dry. Kate steeped 6 teabags instead of 5 that may have decreased the amount of milk needed for the batter. The recipe for frosting can be cut in half because following the recipe would create way too much on 16 cupcakes. And the frosting was a bit runny so you may need to decrease the amount of liquids.
Congratulations, Brandon, you are now 29 years old. Well, technically, you’ve been 29 for over a month, but this was the day that we could all get tickets for. On a clear, surprisingly cool June evening, we all gathered in the Coca-Cola Patio (all you can eat and drink — try the brisket!) to watch the Cardinals put the hammer down upon Dontrelle Willis and the Arizona Diamondbacks. The game was great, the weather perfect and the company was top notch.
