HAPPY 4TH

The 4th of July is a magical Holiday.  It is one of my favorite Holidays along with Thanksgiving. The 4th, of course is about celebrating our Nation's Independence, but for most of the country it is about spending time outdoors with friends and family, BBQ-ing, free fireworks shows, and an extra day or two off work. What's not to love.

I have such fond memories of the 4th of July growing up.  We would spend every 4th at my Grandma & Pa's house in Woodland Hills, CA.  Their 50's style ranch house perched on its own little hill top in 'the Valley' provided the perfect setting for a long day and night outdoors.  We would spend hours on end in the kidney-shaped pool, diving for lava rocks, playing shark, and pool volleyball with our mom and dad and family friends, the Waldrips'.  We would stay in the pool until our eyes stung from the chlorine and our blond hair was that special shade of green you get from endless hours swimming. Around dusk it was off to the front yard where my grandpa would BBQ in the gigantic built-in BBQ pit and we would have a delicious dinner of ribs, corn on the cob, baked beans and potato salad.  This was not to be outdone by your choice of three kinds of pie with vanilla ice cream for desert.  Americana at its best.  As the sun set and darkness set in we would wait for the fireworks show to start at Pierce College just down the street.  The fireworks show was always preempted by parachuters that would jump from planes holding flairs.   With the first sign of the planes circling we would grab our lawn chairs and head to the driveway where we had the best view possible of the show.  We would oooh! and ahhhh! our way through the entire show with great anticipation of the grand finale. After fireworks the Waldrip's oldest son would share his own supply of pyrotechnics and we would swirl sparklers and hold our breath as he lit off roman candles and other rockets.  Such fun.

 1984?

After I left for college, those 4ths at my grandma's seemed to fade out as I chose to spend the 4th with friends.  In my "Newport Days" following college, the 4th include memories of bike rides through the "war zone", water balloon fights, cheap beer, horseshoes, bocci ball, body surfing in the ocean and, of course, BBQing.  Good times.

The 4th of July in NYC is a totally different experience.  Most of the island seems to empty out as the locals head to Hamptons or to their weekend get-a-ways of choice. There is no weekend like the 4th in NYC for getting into the latest hot restaurant with no reservations, or for finding a parking place on the street.  Last year we hung in Williamsburg at a rooftop BBQ and then watch the fireworks over the Manhattan skyline.  This year, however, the friend factor was absent, which Nate and I both missed.  Mind you we spent it with our new little friend, Annabelle.  In the afternoon we took a water taxi out to Governor's Island where we hoping to catch She and Him play a free show.  Unfortunately, everything that is free and remotely cool to do in NY, is almost always superbly over-crowded, as was this concert.  Everyone left in Manhattan for the weekend appeared to be there.  There were no more wrist bands available for entrance into the venue, so we cruised the island and rested in the shade under a tree with views or the Statue of Liberty and the skyline.  Once cooled off we made our way back to Manhattan and headed home to the refuge of our air conditioning.

Around 8:45, we headed back outside to the Hudson River Park to watch the Macy's fireworks show.  Never before have I seen so many fireworks being lit off at one time - even before the grand finale.  Spectacular!  All in all, it was a big day for Annabelle and we had no trouble putting her down to bed once we arrived back home.  Hope everyone had a Happy 4th wherever you may have landed.  We were thinking of our friends and family in CA over the Holiday and reminiscing about some of the great 4th's we have celebrated in the past with you all.