Happy 4th of July Weekend!

So we have been pretty busy over the holiday weekend, which is why I am just getting around to writing about our festive adventures. Our adventures started at 8:30am Friday morning when we were abruptly awoken by what sounded like 30 fire trucks outside our window.

We are in the center of historic Dundalk, which means we are also the center of town activities - such as the 4th of July Parade and the Heritage Fair. So as it happens the parade passes by our building and ends right down the block. After being awoken we gave up on sleep and went downstairs to enjoy the parade. Admittedly, it is pretty sweet when the parade comes to you and you just have to walk out your front door.

After the parade we headed down to College Park to spend the day with Kevin's friends Andrew, Mark and Brian. Kevin's friend Andrew works for a pharmaceutical company in Rockville and has to be "on call" every so often. Basically with being on call he has to be able to get to his job in 30 min in the case of an emergency; thus he was stuck at his house pretty much for the weekend (given that the traffic can really suck in DC).

We had a grand old time that day. Brian made some cheesy-garlic-y burgers on the grill and Andrew made a nice broccoli salad. Mark provided several options of beer and Smirnoff. Burgers, broccoli and booze go quite well together. Kevin and I were charged to bring entertainment, so we went to Wal-mart the night before and bought a croquet set, sparklers and fireworks. We played several rounds of croquet, while it was a French game we played in the American spirit with beers in hand. Because of the rain showers that kept descending upon us we also ended up playing a board game and watching a movie. I learned some poker, but we didn't play enough for me to really break out my new found "skillz..." (just waiting until next time).
After the movie we ended up going back out to celebrate our independence with fireworks home-school style, which was pretty enjoyable and lacked the whole having to drive and sit in traffic for hours, which was an added bonus. Overall a very splendid 4th of July Day!
Having gotten in to our apartment at the wee-hours of the morning, we decided to sleep through the hours we could have actually left our apartment to go couch shopping. You see Dundalk is quite proud of its heritage and clearly we are at the center of the heritage, where all of the classiest of Dundalk flock. Meaning that between the hours of 12p and 10p we couldn't leave our apartment without losing a parking place and having to re-park a mile away. Thus, all of our weekend outings were strategically planned for a return late, late at night.

On Saturday we decided we might as well celebrate our heritage since we were home bound and see what all the hub-bub was all about. My sister Erin and her boyfriend Kevin came out to join us at the mecca of Dundalk. I have to admit that for the $5 entry fee it was a little lackluster and we were a little under-impressed. So I have decided to include some of the highlights of the event:

1. The Fried Pepsi sign was pretty intriguing - not your usual festival food. I mean Fried Oreos were interesting enough...unfortunately, we didn't have the nerves or stomachs to buy any.
2. We watched some K-9 dog training (not actual police dogs but obedience training). It was pretty interesting actually until all of the dogs kept doing the same routine of run, jump and attack the hell out of the fake arm on the "decoy". Guess you can't teach different dogs new tricks.
3. One of my favorite events by far was the pig races. There is nothing cuter than little pink hamlets jumping hurdles. And the 6-8 week year old piglets in training definitely stole the show. (Though the "hot-dog dogs" were also a treat.)
4. The last highlight of the day was the kissing monkey. You gave him a quarter, he shook your hand and then kissed (really licked) you on the nose. Now, admittedly it was a little disconcerting that the man holding the monkey kept telling you what to do so the monkey wouldn't "play with you" or "get excited" which was probably loose terms for bite you and rip your hair out. However, Erin and I decided to trust the little dude.

Otherwise, we got some free books from a table (I found a book of plays and an introductory Italian language textbook) for our $5. The food was pretty good, but extra bang for your buck (or rather extra bucks spent). They had some decent music names, but we didn't see any. The carnival rides were a little shady, especially the haunted house with only a 6 foot wide trailer attached behind the entrance and exit. There were some arts and crafts, but nothing that really called our names to buy. So I have to say, it was good times for a day, but I think we will celebrate our heritage elsewhere next year.

Later in the evening we attended a "surprise" belated birthday for my good friend Erin in DC. (It was at 10:30p so we clearly got back in plenty of time to reclaim our valued parking space.) I was really excited to see my college friends that I hadn't seen since the wedding and was also happy to see other college friends and friends-of-friends I hadn't seen in longer. The girls in charge - Caroline, Amanda, Jessie and Jessie planned a very "Erin" tropical theme and Erin was DEFINITELY surprised (which was a large motivation as she continues to "claim" she can't be surprised). I mean who wouldn't be surprised to come home from performing all evening to find 12 people cleverly crouched in the dark in the corner of your room. And the planning of the mission was very well coordinated.

Through the evening we got to catch up. We were regaled with stories about everyone's busy theatre lives and we regaled friends with wedding and honeymoon tales. One of the definite highlights of the evening was Erin drinking rum and coke from a sand bucket (nice touch girls!) and dancing the robot in a puffy winter jacket from one of her ex-colleagues. (Wish I had a picture of that...)

The evening was great and it made me excited about hanging out and catching up with my DC buddies while I am working out there for the next 5 weeks!

Happy Belated Birthday E-Dawg!

So overall a fantastic weekend of independence, heritage, and booze! And thus I leave you with a video excerpt from our backyard fireworks extravaganza. They call this the Freedom Fountain...

Happy 6th of July! Wait a minute...