Happy 4th of July!

This is a day late, but we were having so much fun this weekend I didn't get to post it yesterday.

We started off the 4th of July festivities by checking out the local festival called "Sawdust Days" which is held at a local park and runs through the holiday weekend with fireworks on Saturday and a veteran's parade on Sunday. I was bummed that we missed it last year, and determined that we would check it out this year. So as soon as my hubby got home from work on Thursday I rushed him to change clothes and off we went, planning to indulge in some yummy fair food for dinner.

Unfortunately, the Sawdust Days seem to have been misnamed. The festival should have been called the "Freaks and Stinky People Fair." I promise, I am not a snob. Go to any state fair or even smaller scale festival, and much of the fun is the confluence of people from all walks of life. I love people watching. But this small local event was truly the most concentrated gathering of scary, strange, and heavily body-odored people I have ever seen. And I worked in prisons and prison psychiatric hospitals for many years! Needless to say, we went, we saw, we hightailed it out of there and ate dinner at a downtown restaurant. We did however get a good laugh from the experience.

The rest of the weekend was truly a fun time. Friday morning Miss and I took the Expedition to have one of the headlights fixed and did a little shopping at Big Lots while waiting for the work to be done. I found a great "painting" for my bedroom for only $10. I just love a bargain. Then we went to a quilt shop down the road where I picked up some fabric to make curtains and the bedskirt for Baby Girl's room. As we walked around the store Miss kept pointing at all the fabrics and quilts hanging up and saying her version of "pretty," which sounds sort of like "pi-ee" with a very awed vocal inflection. It was so cute.

Saturday morning we went to the farmer's market. We found some great local produce as well as some locally made salsa and salad dressing/marinade. I just love the farmer's market. But the best part of the weekend was that Miss and I spent the majority of it (Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons) playing at the pool. We have met some new friends there, a mom and her little girl who is just about 2 months older than Miss. It is so fun to watch Miss and her little friend play together. They do a lot of staring at each other and working on sharing. Yesterday it was super cute to watch them take turns stomping and splashing in a puddle by the pool. I'm happy to have met a new mom-friend too, and we had a fantastic time at the pool, even though my hubby was working all weekend and couldn't come with us.

Last night we went to a neighborhood barbecue and met some new people. Miss was, of course, the star of the party. How could she not be looking all festive and adorable?

I love the 4th of July. We didn't get to attend any fireworks shows, because Miss goes to bed long before it is dark enough here for that, but we heard plenty and I'm looking forward to years in the future when we can take Miss to see some great fireworks shows on this patriotic holiday.

Though today was the observed holiday for a lot of people, my hubby still had to work and the weather took a turn for the worse here. It was overcast and looked like the sky might open up at any moment and pour down rain. It never actually did, but we skipped the pool anyway. We went for low-key today. Miss and I made basil ice cubes, to preserve some of the fresh basil we have for this winter. And she spent quite a bit of time having a blast playing with, eh, dog toys.

Yes, I am a little bit ashamed to admit to the sorry state of the dog toys in our home. What you see in the photo above was once a stuffed tomato with a squeaker inside. One of my dogs has no interest in toys, and the other just tears a toy apart so that the stuffing is all over the house and the squeaker is rendered mute within moments of giving it to him. That doesn't mean I don't give him toys from time to time anyway, it just means they don't last in any form that would be recognizable as a toy for very long. Consequently, we have many scraps of stiff-from-dog-slobber plush in a rainbow of colors (previously a frog, a Santa, a white dog, etc.). Miss seemed a little grossed out by a few of the pieces too, picking them up gingerly with thumb and forefinger and holding them out to the dog in an attempt to play. But she was also fascinated by them for long enough that I got to sit and enjoy rocking in a chair and watching her dump out the whole dog toy basket and peruse the bits.

This green one seemed to be her favorite. It was once a tadpole-like toy with a tennis ball in one end, I think. Now it's just the green tail part, and she plays with the ball separately.

She thought it would be fashionable as a scarf.

But I think maybe it grossed her out.
To top off the weekend I made a delicious stir fry for dinner with tons of fresh veggies from our CSA box and now my hard-working hubby is out enjoying an evening round of golf. Here's hoping everyone else has had as much fun as we have this holiday weekend.