happy 4th of july

As goes with me on everything....happy fourth of July!  (A day late and a dollar short...including my best friend's birthday.  Except that was more of 2 weeks late.  But I digress.)

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th.  And that you took a moment to think about the reason we have the 4th of July.

But I also hope that you enjoyed the rituals that have come about since then.  Like fireworks.  As it turns out, I just learned that Dow LOVES fireworks.  And so fireworks we had.

On Friday, we took my mom and dad to the Rockies' game as my dad's birthday present.

And yes, we beat the San Francisco Giants.

The evening was beautiful and the sunset gorgeous.  

The best part was that it just happened to be a special fireworks edition, in honor of the 4th of July.

And so we spent our first night of fireworks with 43,000 of closest friends.  

The next night, July 3rd, was quite the opposite.  Tired from our late night in Denver and early morning to work, we weren't really feeling up to the social aspect of fireworks.  So we took what Dow called a "shortcut" - he knows lots of these and they aren't usually shorter in distance OR time, if you ask me - down a county road that, at some point, was no longer maintained by the county and looked like a two-track, 4-wheelin' road.   

We were about 5 miles away from the town of Red Feather Lakes' fireworks and watched them in solitude with the dog.  

Finally, last night, we went into Ft. Collins for the actual 4th of July fireworks, which are set off at City Park, 2 blocks from my aunt and uncle's house.

And we were able to enjoy those with family.  Not to mention the delicious flag cake my aunt made the and the rhubarb crumble Dow made.

So after three nights in a row, I think we might be set with fireworks for a while...at least until we go to Lars and Amy's house for New Years!