July 4th in a small town

Ever since I moved away from home, July 4th has kind of sucked.  When we were kids, my parents and grandmother hosted great celebrations, where we had tons on family, food, and fireworks, my three favorite things about the holiday.  We did bonfires in the driveway, roasting hot dogs or marshmallows on sticks we trimmed.  Mom made tons of potato salad, desserts, baked beans, mmm.  It was heaven.  But when I moved out on my own, my parents and sister often used the July 4th week for their vacations to Myrtle Beach.  I never went with them, because I always had work obligations.  It really sucked.  One year, I went to the movies by myself.  One year, when my parents did not go on vacation, they came to Pittsburgh to visit me, and I had food poisoning.  So, over the years, the July 4th holiday lost some of its charm for me.

Then, I landed my Hubby, which in turn landed me a great group of friends, among whom are a couple who throw the best July 4th bash ever.  Last year, we did not get to fully appreciate it, since we left for an hour or two in the middle to get engagement pictures taken.  But this year, it was ON!

The party was Saturday, the 3rd, and the day was pretty much perfect.  We had great weather, we saw tons of friends who are much like a second family to us, and we got to eat delicious food, including pulled pork, potatoes, veggies, and more desserts than should be allowed.  Finally, my July 4th love was restored!  At the end of the night, they even have fireworks for the partygoers to enjoy.  We loved them, tho our dog did not. 

So thank you Baker family, for renewing my love of the 4th of July!

On the actual 4th of July, we took it easy in the morning, and then that evening we went to the Ford City Heritage Days celebration.  This is a festival in the neighboring small town, which includes standard fesitval foods, rides, games, and craft vendors.  It used to have a used book sale and a petting zoo, but those two things, my favorites, were missing this year.

Still we saw some amazing stuff, including:
The Asian man selling eggrolls singing Bad Romance by Lady Gaga
The kid at the dart booth game, all of 12, hitting on my mother in law, asking her name and for her to drive him to WalMart
A game that involved betting on which color hole on a spinning wheel that a rat would dive into when his handler rang a bell
A vendor selling the 10 hottest peppers know to man
A booth dedicated to Polish merchandise

We also ate some great food, spent time with my mother in law and grandmother in law, and once again, had a great fireworks display, including heart shaped fireworks and smiley face fireworks.  AND Hubby bought me the cutest little birdhouse and fence to sit out in front of our house, complete with our name!

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend filled with friends, family, food, fireworks, and a very happy small town wife.