July 4th Weekend

I love three day weekends! I always feel like I'm getting away with something when I'm off work on a week day. On Friday, I had a list of errands to run and friends to visit. It was a lovely day, too, which made it all the better. In the evening, Mark and I were invited to dinner at Dan and Jana's house ... they are also adopting from Ethiopia and we're enjoying getting to know them better. We had a great time!

On Saturday, Mark's studio was closed so we went to the Farmer's Market together. We got there just in time to see our friends Chris and Brian, Joe and Anne, all their kids and our friend Randy. We literally ran into all of them right at the entrance -- it was kind of comical! But then it started to rain so we made a quick trip through the market, got the few things we were looking for, and headed back to the car. We weren't prepared for the rain!

Next we decided to go for a drive and ended up stopping at the new Wildcat Creek Winery. It's just outside of Lafayette and we were curious about it. It was very nice as were the people working there. Although they don't grow their own grapes, we really thought it's a nice attraction for Lafayette. After we visited the winery, we had a Big Lots adventure and then relaxed in the not-so sunny sun room, hoping that the rain would stop in time for the fireworks.

We had an impromptu cook-out with Chris, Brian and Sean, which was very fun and again, more delicious food. (We have the best friends who really know how to cook!) About 9 ish, we drove over to campus to see the fireworks. We made our way to the top of a parking garage -- in the rain. Luckily it stopped about 30 minutes before the fireworks began but that didn't keep my hair from frizzing out! And thus, why there are no photos of me below. Ha! We had a yummy dessert while we waited for the fireworks. Chris made a flag cake with fresh fruit and twinkies.

And here's a little camped-out spot on the roof of the parking garage -- it worked really well!

And finally, some fireworks. I thought that these two photos turned out kind of cool! The air was so heavy from the rain and humidity but I thought it just made the lingering smoke look so neat against the light/reflection from the fireworks.

People have been setting off fireworks for over a week now -- day and night. In fact, there are some going off right now! So on Sunday morning, when we both heard a loud 'pop!' we just assumed it was more fireworks. But nope -- a transformer blew and we were without power. I wasn't sure what to do with the laundry I had started but Mark assured me it would be ok to leave it for a few hours while we went to his parent's house. Thankfully, he was right. We had a nice visit with them and helped them by trimming some bushes. And today is their 46th wedding anniversary -- Happy Anniversary, Robert and Geneva!

So that was our weekend, in a quick re-cap. Today was back to work as usual. We've both been having dreams and lots of thoughts about Baby Ailor over the last few days so tonight we made a list of the things we need to do before Baby Ailor's arrival and the things/supplies we need for Baby Ailor. It's borderline overwhelming to think about! But having the lists helps -- we can cross of things as we accomplish them. That's my favorite thing about lists -- crossing off things! And this Saturday I am taking another class through our agency ... about health issues/when to call the doctor. Should be interesting!

Hope you all had a good holiday weekend!