Happy Fourth!

It's the first 4th of July I've spent in the States since 2004 and although it wasn't a blast, it was a good one - chilled out and fun. It's my cousin Emily's first 4th of July (of course, they don't celebrate this in Taiwan) and she was really wowed by the fireworks. Now, I'm not one for fireworks, really - I could miss them and care less - but there's something about them that just draws me in. I took my mom, sister and cousin to our Downtown Park and while we were some of the last people to show up, I think we got some of the best views.

I went to a 3rd of July bbq at Jimmy's house the day before. Georgia, Julius (I got his name right!) and Ryan were all there, as well as many other people. It was quite a good turnout and the food was delicious! We started with some kick ass mac 'n' cheese and potato salad, some finger foods, then hot dogs and fried chicken. I was done after a chicken wing and a hot dog but the cooking kept on going! There were grilled chicken, pork chops, steak, salmon burgers, corn dogs...not to mention the dessert! Georgia baked a cake, I brought ice cream and whipped cream (y'all know how much I loooooove that stuff), and someone else had made very yummy brownies. We were old fogies, though, because we were getting tired and left right before 10pm!

So the 4th of July dawned with blue skies and no clouds - apparently a first in 10 years! Ryan and a couple of his coworkers were heading up to Snoqualmie Falls and asked if I wanted to come along. I managed to drag my cousin and sister out of bed - quite a feat since neither of them hardly ever wake up before noon! - and we trekked out to Snoqualmie. It was a gorgeous day out and we had a really nice time. I've never been to the Falls but I've been meaning to as I keep hearing how lovely it is out there, and it was! The spray felt so good as we chilled out on the rocks and drank in the beautiful nature surrounding us (we'll just ignore the electric cables in the background). We worked up quite a sweat - and an appetite! - hiking back to our cars so we stopped in town for a bite to eat. My cousin really enjoyed herself, oohing and aahing about the scenery and the train relics left on the tracks throughout the town. We stopped in a the Snoqualmie Falls Candy Factory and Cafe, so she experienced the quaintness of a small-town eatery. Oh yeah, and the food was really good, too!

Later that afternoon, Ryan, my sister and I went to see the Transformers movie. It kicked ass! Optimus totally rocked! Even my sister, who's never seen any of the Transformers cartoons, loved it (although her main reason for seeing it was because Shia LaBeouf's in it). It was awesome. The eye candy was quite yummy, too. There's this one scene involving Josh Duhamel and a motorcycle (the super hot, crotch rocket kind) that I was, like, totally *drool!* about!

After the movie was a dinner at home, then I went to go the airport to pick up Frank, who was flying home from Thailand. He was so happy to be back, and the way he felt about coming home from having been in a country where English is not a major language was how I kind of felt like when I came back from Taiwan. Welcome home!

I went straight home to pick up the family after dropping Frank off at his house, and we went to watch the fireworks show. The park was completely packed but there was a lot of officers and mall security personnel to help direct traffic and everything went really smoothly I think. They launched the show from the fourth floor of the mall parking garage across the street, and it was completely sealed off until the last cracker went off and the fire department deemed it safe to let us back to our cars. Getting out was a bit of an expected nightmare, but it wasn't too bad once we got out of the parking garage.

And now, I'm back to work. Pictures later.