Fireworks!
We hosted a pool party/barbeque for the Fourth of July again this year. Being the folks with the pool when it’s 105 degrees outside makes us the natural choice for putting this one on.
We had a great group of folks to celebrate with this year, including Kevin F. and his wife Cara who were visiting from Tucson. The Belchers brought their new-ish puppy, Troy, with them and he and Libby had an interesting time getting to know each other. The eventually settled down and got some sleep so that we could enjoy the parties!
The weekend ended up being rather gourmet, as we tried out a few barbeque recipes we had picked up during our stay in Texas. We had grilled corn on the cob and Ava actually tried some!
Our resident firecracker was ready for the party early in the day. Whoozy really loves to throw parties. Can’t believe how big she’s gotten in the last year. In case you need the comparison too, here’s last year’s photo.
As good as our meal was on the third of July, the menu for the Fourth was amazing. Matt spent all afternoon cooking and smoking ribs and then we had, as sides, PW’s Mac & Cheese, baked beans with real bacon, pico de gallo, guacamole, & bacon-wrapped pineapple bites. For dessert, we had homemade vanilla ice cream, apple pie, & cupcakes. We also had homemade strawberry ice cream that I made as an experiment and, oh boy, that was awesome. Needless to say, no one walked away from the party hungry.
During the course of all the eating, we did find some time for some swimming…
…and, after a short break to eat dessert & wait for it to get dark….
…some fireworks.
People a couple of streets over were lighting some really big fireworks, so we got a pretty good show when all our sparklers ran out. They didn’t know it, but our stranger neighbors had a very appreciative crowd sitting in our driveway.
Because of other major events coming up in our world soon, we’re at the end of our summer party season. It was great to wrap it up with such a fun event! Thanks to our friends for joining us….we’ll plan to do it again next year!