It was such an eventful weekend, let me break it down by day.
Friday, July 1st
What a beautiful day. We had an early dismissal from work around 2pm, and for once, I didn’t need to hang around a few more hours to get some time-sensitive task completed before I could go. I. Just. Left. I got gas, visited a friend briefly, and got home to clean up before my sister Julie & family came over for dinner. Instead of cooking, we ordered out some BBQ ribs and sides from this new Pom Pom Barbeque place that opened up in the neighborhood. It was decent food, but it’s no Famous Dave’s. Still, I think it’s good in a pinch and when you’re in a hurry. I got to see my niece Abigail, who is crawling and starting to cruise. I haven’t seen her in a long while, so I experienced a little guilt over being an absentee uncle.
Saturday, July 2nd
Saturday entailed a little hanging around, followed by some cleaning up, and a trip to Home Depot to get gardening supplies (mulch, flowers, etc.) We were all starving, so we drove nearby for a quick (and late) pizza/Indian lunch out with the family (we had Indian, and Josh had some pizza from next door.) Sometimes, it’s the little events in life that are fun and memorable.
We got home, then the ladies got ready for a one of my relative’s baby shower. My sister Julie came by, and the three of them went off, leaving me and Josh home alone. The two of us then did a whole mess of cleaning up the front yard, washing the front of the house, and some more tidying up in the backyard, in preparation for Sunday’s big gardening extravaganza.
Side note — our backyard gate broke off the top hinge earlier this week, and it’s been rather annoying. I picked up new large wood screws to try to rehang the gate, so this would have to be a job for Sunday.
Around 8pm, Josh and I did as much as we could, then went back inside to freshen up and get ready. Town fireworks would start a little past 9pm, my brother-in-law Robbie and niece Abby would be coming around this time, as would the ladies. I also had to pull together some leftovers for a quick dinner before we walked over. Around 9pm, everyone showed up, and we made our way to our usual fireworks-watching spot. Afterwards, the Josephs hung out for a few hours with us.
Sunday, July 3rd
Sunday didn’t work out exactly as planned. We were supposed to attend church services, then garden in time for guests coming over for dinner later that evening. Instead, it began to rain in the morning while we were at church, and it continued to rain off and on the rest of the day. So, instead of having a beautiful backyard, we postponed the beautification process until Monday. Also, I couldn’t fix the gate in the rain, so I found a way to prop it up under the shed roof. Instead, we focused on tidying up the interior, and making dinner sides. I went out later back to Pom Pom Barbeque to pick up BBQ chicken to go with our sides, as well as some dinner wine.
So who was coming over today? My wife’s friend/coworker Mara, and her parents visiting from out-of-town. It was a very nice evening, punctuated by her parents needing advice on setting up a home theater. My heart was aflutter as I went over a diagram of their room. I do live for these opportunities.
Monday, July 4th
What a hot day. I had hoped to both hit the gym and go cycling this weekend, but neither quite worked out. Oh well, what can you do sometimes? Sometimes, you just can’t get everything you want to do. I still have next weekend, and I will hit the gym Tuesday and Thursday this week. We spent the majority of the day gardening and fixing the backyard gate. I was able to fix the backyard gate, so now it swings and closes properly. Once completed, I moved onto working with my wife to dig holes, plant new flowers, trimming bushes, and lots of mulching. Four bags of mulch, to be precise.
After 7pm, we called it a successful day. We freshened up, and went out for dinner at a local diner. Neither of us had the energy for another drive to see more fireworks, so dinner out was enough for us. After dinner, we hit CVS quickly, then came home to watch a little Kung Fu Panda before sending the kids off to bed. Of course, we the parents had to stay up longer to take care of laundry and things, but that comes with the job.
It was a very long weekend, very eventful, and very fruitful. Now, if we could just have Tuesday off as well, in order to recuperate!