Red White and Blue

I was thinking about how the U.S. is far from the only country with red, white, and blue as their flag colors - the other obvious ones are UK, Australia, and France. However, the U.S. is the only country to become so fixated, but that is relatively common. We are one of the most patriotic countries in the world. This has its benefits and its downfalls of course. As this is my Independence Day post - I will stick with the beneficial side. The biggest benefit of course is that it feels great and we have this wonderful celebration of some really great things our country did. America really is an amazing place in so many ways. We may have a lot of issues, and a lot of things that need resolved, but the Bill of Rights, and our constitution, along with the lack of a true class system (i.e. - anyone can rise), have made America a great country.

So how did I spend my 4th of July weekend?

On Saturday I went to the farmers market w/my aunt and cousin. Then I headed over to http://www.andersonsstore.com/ off of Sawmill to get some brats, as I was told they had a good meat counter. In the evening I made potato salad and spinach dip for my Sunday plans.

On Sunday I spent pretty much the entire day getting ready for and then executing a BBQ at my Grandma's house in Mt Vernon. DH road his motocycle up there, which was exciting for him. The menu included the potato salad, brats (multiple varieties), spinach dip with hawaiian bread, marshmallow salad (very midwestern to call this salad :-) ), and for dessert - Rhubarb Crunch! It all was tasty and the company was good. Nice to get some family together and have brats, helped some with my homesickness.

On Monday, I was exhausted! I had spent most of Saturday and Sunday on my feet. So, I spent most of Monday laying around. I did get moving in the afternoon, put some laundry away, and headed off to a 4th if July celebration with my friends down in Hilliard. We met at their appt for snacks and drinks, then walked to the Hilliard fireworks about 20 minutes away. It was a good show, and we were sitting ridiculously close. The finale was an assault on the senses -both hearing and eyes. It was a lot of fun!! The walk back felt like a million miles, LOL, but I made it and we enjoyed some more time with our friends before heading home.

It was a nice, relaxing long weekend with lots of friends and family, lots of good Independence Day traditional activities.