One helluva July 4th weekend this year

Happy July 4th, everybody! It was certainly one of the biggest, busiest weekends for us in a long time. I’m not claiming that our engagment weekend or our wedding weekend were not busy, but this was certainly up there. Let’s recap, shall we?

Friday

My friend Paul (one of two houseguests scheduled this weekend) arrived Friday evening to stay over at our house. We picked up some pizza, ate dinner quickly, and then all walked over to see our town’s fireworks display. Much like last year, it was easy to walk the two blocks to a grassy area with other residents, plop down on picnic blankets and chairs, and watch the show.

Saturday

My friend Paul attended an engagement party for a mutual friend/acquaintance of ours named Reggie. As a matter of fact, a number of Michigan folks were also attending the engagement party @ Royal Albert Palace/Hall in Fords, NJ. Interestingly enough, I met Reggie in December 2006 at Paul’s bachelor party in Cancun.

While he was at the engagement party, we ran busily errands, in preparation for our July 5th houseparty. In the afternoon, Paul brought our 2nd houseguest, Sean, back to our place, as he also would be crashing with us. We chilled out at the house playing Madden 2K10, had another fellow named Robby come by, and Namita cooked us up a fantastic dinner of pork chops, chicken, crispy onion-flavored potatoes, and roasted veggies.

After dinner, the four boys got ready for a night in the East Village. We would be meeting up with the previously mentioned Michigan folks who were in town @ Cloister Cafe. We ultimately ended the night at Gray’s Papaya down near. Home by 5:30am. 

Sunday

This was the day of the big BBQ party at our house. We originally had just one friend, Paul, staying with us, so I planned to grill up lunch this day. Then I heard from friends Leena & Sanjay that would be up north, and wanted to come over. Gradually, more and more people were available to come over until we had a full-fledged party expected.

We don’t normally host many parties or gatherings at our house. For various reasons, we weren’t able to have people over, because we hadn’t done much with the house in the four or five years since we moved in. In the past 12 months, we’ve finally been in a position to really do some work on the place. Since the house is now in a better shape, we’re ready to have folks over.

July 4th BBQ party

July 4th BBQ party

One of the tasks still remaining was to finish up cleaning/tidying up the backyard, where I’d be grillin’! I rented a power washer from Home Depot that morning, and Sean & I powerwashed the patio and the front door area. I also did some weeding and put down mulch on the flower beds. Namita took care of some last-minute grocery shopping. Paul helped by, I heard, chopping onions and watching the kids.

By the time I got back from returning the powerwasher, guests had already arrived. Overall, the lunch BBQ party turned into also an afternoon and dinner, which ended around 10pm. I ended up doing no grilling, as Sean did an excellent job with the burgers, hamburgers, and italian sausages. We also offered buffalo chicken wings, shrimp cocktail, chips & guacamole, and a few other things. The alcohol was flowing, and you know, that helped. We kept all the kids busy by providing bubbles, Wall-E, and letting them run amock through a sprinkler.

Monday

A late lunch at a very busy Perkins, then cleaning up post-party junk after Paul took off for the airport. We hosted a BBQ dinner for my in-laws and sister-in-laws’ family, but this time I did the grillin’. And yes, that went well too. Wow, a busy weekend, but it was certainly fun. We are ready to host more parties, so if you want to come hang with the Ipes, just let us know.

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