Full Fourth

Fourth of July weekend came and went without any fireworks. It was raining so hard on Sunday night that we didn't even bother going out to see if the city was going to set them off. That's not to say that the weekend wasn't a blast. We had more fun (and it felt longer) than any weekend I can remember. It was just the less explosive type of fun.

The weekend started late Friday night when our friends Lon and Lisa arrived in town. It was late but we headed out for a quick bite of dinner only to find the noodle place we were planning to go to was closed for the night. Instead we headed next door for a surprisingly speedy pizza dinner. The kids did really well for being up so late and were great during dinner. After pizza we couldn't pass up the tasty gelato before heading back to the hotel to talk. We stayed up way past my bedtime (and I think theirs) talking but had a very nice time.

The next morning Jeff and I headed back to their hotel with the promise of finding a park to play in and then lunch. We didn't have to walk far to find a park though. While the youngest child took a mid-day nap, we took Lisa and their son Logan out for a walk around the pond near the hotel. What we didn't realized was that the pond was stocked with goldfish and filled with ducks. After one loop we were joined by the rest of the party and went around again. I'll talk about that walk a bit more in my other blog. Sorry no pictures. Then we headed out to lunch (noodle place was open this time) and then out to Raccoon River Park to play on the playground equipment. At about 3, Lon and Lisa continued on their way out of town and Jeff and I spent some time sitting on the patio soaking up the sun. That evening our neighbor came over and we spent a couple hours sitting out, drinking some good red wine, and talking. We hadn't seen Jeanne much since last fall and I was missing her. We talked and laughed and set up new drinks dates surrounding made up holidays (who needs an excuse to drink good whiskey?). It was incredibly relaxing although I will admit I had more red wine than I should have.

Sunday was a bit of a lazy day. After all the red wine on Saturday night I had problems sleeping. So after finally falling asleep at 5 a.m. I slept until almost noon. It was only when my parents called about lunch that I finally got out of bed. After lunch at a barbecue place we headed back to their house for a quiet afternoon of visiting and board games. We played a couple hilarious rounds of Apples to Apples (my current game obsession) and a couple rounds of Bananagrams (my mom's favorite). Jeff and I didn't leave there until 9 and by then it was pouring. We headed straight home, figuring that no one would be lighting off fireworks, and started a jigsaw puzzle. It's been years since I've done a puzzle and it was one of the things that Jeff and I did when we first started dating. We stayed up way too late working on it but ended up with some nice quiet relaxing time together.

Monday was a work holiday for me so we planned to eat breakfast out, a traditional weekend luxury. While waiting for our table we got a text. It was Lon and Lisa on their way back through the city wondering if we wanted a late lunch. We left the sit down breakfast and headed over to Caribou for a quick bite, then back to the house to do some cleaning. We were having a box springs delivered that afternoon so we needed to be home and have the bedroom ready when it arrived. When lunch ended up being at 2 we ran down to the mall to meet them and then had to hightail it home since our delivery window was from 3-5. Of course the bed didn't arrive until 4:30. The evening was spent working on our puzzle which we finished surprisingly quickly. We actually started and finished another 1000 piece that afternoon. By the end of the day my back was killing me from bending over the table. But the new box springs helped soothe that. All and all a great weekend, filled with friends and visiting. We never BBQed or watched fireworks, but it was still an amazing weekend. I feel refreshed.