Redneck Fourth

So my Fourth of July experience for 20X was pretty hysterical and awesome.

Day ONE

We decided to go down to Mobile and stay with my aunt and cousin for the weekend. My younger brothers, dad, and I left on Saturday morning. We hit a little snag in traffic that caused our trip to be extended a full HOUR (it took us over 45 minutes to get through 4 miles..). But finally we made it down to Aunt Lynnie's house which is super adorable. Her living room is decorated with dolphins, her favorite animal. She has two Dachshunds, Maddie and Abby, and a Golden Retriever named Lexie. All trouble. Maddie is a "fetch-a-holic," and Lexie is a "pet-a-holic;" Maddie will play fetch for HOURS, and Lexie will not allow herself to stop being petted. Abby is just there and barks a lot, but she's super cute to cuddle with.

So we got there and Aunt Lynnie told us that we were going to have a "community" dinner: all of her neighbors were bringing different foods over to one person's house for dinner. Before we went across the street, we met a few neighbors. Sandra and Mike live next door, and they have four kids: Guage (19), Brittany (15), Shannon (8), and "Peanut" (7). Guage is his from a first marriage, Brittany is her's, and the little ones--who are ten months apart--are theirs.

Had the luxury of meeting them, then Petra (my cousin) and her boyfriend, Jonathan, come in! We talk World Cup with Jon Jon a little bit, while Petra talked to us and the neighbors. We walked across the street, bringing our chairs, potato salad, FRESH pig ribs, grilled chicken, and burgers with us. [Note about the ribs. Junior, Aunt Lynnie's boyfriend, bought a pig a few months ago and raised it. He.."harvested" (?) it for the Fourth and we got some yummy meat from it. Rest in Peace, Barbie..]

We met more neighbors: Allison and Derrick owned the house where we ate; their children, Maddie Kae and Dailyn; Chris, who is living with Sandra and Mike until he goes to school sometime, and his girlfriend Chrissy; and four other people I never met. But everyone brought food, and there was SO much of it. The ribs and macaroni and cheese were to DIE for! They were so incredibly good. Big events that happened during dinner: Petra rode in the Barbi jeep, Jon Jon taught the little boy how to pop a wheelie on the Dora the Explorer four wheeler, Maddie Kae and Dailyn ate the equivalent of a half a watermelon all by themselves.

[Fun Story: I gave up soft drinks as a New Year's resolution and I've done very very well with it. But there was nothing to drink there except for Coke. So I had one. Halfway through it, I got a MAJOR headache. OUCH!]

So after dinner, we went across the street to go swimming in Mike and Sandra's brand new, out of ground pool! This was a big deal. They just dug the area out to make it flat, and then put in this HUGE pool! It was a lot of fun. After that, all of the kids got out of the pool and joined the adults. Mike and Chris had turned their TV inside to face a window so that we could watch the NASCAR race from the yard. :) Yes, that's right. It was a LOT of fun, even though #24 lost..

Day TWO

We woke up and went to my grandmother's church. Then we went and got Krispy Kreme donuts and went back to my grandpa's house to visit; he didn't know we were coming! We got there and saw his new back porch! Junior recovered his porch and lightened it up: looks great! Inside, his carpet was cleaned and walls were painted. He was watching Mass on TV and just hanging out. After we were there for a bit, we went to play disc golf. I remembered that although I enjoy playing that sport, I SUCK AT IT. The first hole, I got a +10, whatever that is. I stopped counting after the first hole; I just know I came in last..

So we wet back to my grandpa's house. We brought him a "Bacon Cheese Junior Burger" from Wendy's, one of his new favorite meals. :) We sat and watched a triathlon with him, and then went back to my aunt's house. We sat and hung out, watching some LifeTime movies before eating a wonderful dinner of spaghetti! Including a dessert of cookies n cream ice cream cones. :) Then my brother and dad went and got a few fireworks and we went and shot them.

They lasted about ten minutes. Some people tried to drive over them too. :\ Lame sauce.. Lexie tried to eat one of the spinny ones..Oops!

Came back inside, watched another LifeTime movie, then decided to hit the sack. I was tired.

Day THREE

Woke up, packed, left for Spanish Fort to meet Petra for lunch at Panera Bread. Lunch was a lot of fun, and then we left. Lots of traffic and driving on the way back, nothing exciting.

Weekend over!