Happy Birthday, America!

Let me just get one thing out there: I LOVE holidays. Every single one of them, and I kind of have a reputation for making a big deal out of them because my family did as a kid and I love the traditions (green milk for St. Patty's day anyone?) Well make no exception, I love the fourth of July. I have such fond memories of celebrating when I was a kid... back in the day before summer classes interfered! My whole family, including mom, dad, brother, aunt, uncle, cousins, and grandparents would get together for a big picnic. My aunt would go all out with the food, and she and I made our famous "flag cake." Yes, just as it sounds, and though I'd say I'm a bit biased, it's amazing. You take pound cake, layer it with cool whip and strawberries and blueberries (patriotic don't ya say?!) and on the top layer of cool whip is an American flag made of the remaining blueberries and strawberries, in a square and stripes respectively. Oh how I missed that today! I found the recipe online, but watch out, it can get complicated! (Said with a hint of sarcasm, but if you're a perfectionist like me, it's embarrassing to admit the amount of time it takes to get that darn flag just right!) I found the recipe online and a picture of one (not one of me and my aunt's creations, but it's a good replication - sadly digital cameras were just making an appearance at the time!): http://www.fabulousfoods.com/recipes/dessert/cakes/flagcake.html

We were such cool people - all however many of us would wear matching Old Navy flag shirts year after year - it's quite comical and my aunt still has a picture I drew of us all decked out in our shirts from when I was like 8 or so on her bulletin board in the kitchen. Everytime I'm there it brings back such great memories. We've gotten these shirts every year for I don't even know how many summers, so needless to say I was pretty perturbed this year when mom and I went to Old Navy to get them and they let us down! I mean seriously, what's up? I refuse to wear a patriotic shirt that says "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Boys" or "I'm hot as a firecracker." Just a flag would do, thanks! So I'm dated, but I'm wearing my red flag tanktop from last year and mom busted out hers from 02.

Along with the plethora of food, we would play crochet, which people down here just don't seem to appreciate, beanbags, Mexican trained dominoes (which we still play!), and whatever other games my brother and I came up with. A few days before the fourth my uncle or aunt would take my brother and I to go pick out fireworks at one of the tents on the side of the road. I can't even begin to tell you how much I loved doing that! I still crack up at the names of some of those things: battling tanks, the singing ___ (insert insect of choice here), and some that you really didn't want to question the origin! And let me tell you, these were no party poppers where you pull the string and confetti pops out, we were hardcore. And it rocked. My brother and I would spend an embarrasingly long time developing our "lineup" for the night so the biggest ones were evenly distributed. We would videotape it even though it was so dark you couldn't see much, but the sound effects of our exaggerated "ooohs" and "awwws" were priceless. These fireworks would go on for at least an hour, with the guys mostly setting them off in the middle of the street, while the rest of us would go to town with sparklers: I especially loved the 3 foot long ones! It was a rite of passage for me when I was finally allowed to handle a lighter myself and set some off - let me tell you, there is some serious skill in getting the firework lit enough that it will go off, but still being able to run for your life away from it! The best part was our "grand finale" (yes we really called it that) - we were allowed to pick out one really BIG one and boy were they cool! If you've never bought fireworks, they're ridiculously expensive, but as I (hope) you can tell, the memories are totally worth it!

Because I just finished summer school yesterday, there was no way we could make it up to my aunt's for the fourth, which was sad. Plus my brother wouldn't be able to get off so it just wouldn't be the same. So today was different, but still a good day. I started by having a barbecue at lunch with some of my really good friends - they have the two most adorable girls that I've pretty much watched grow up. They are now 3 years and 18 months, which are just SUCH fun ages. They had some other family over as well, and we had SO much food it was crazy! Then after getting all my suitcases packed from my apartment, I headed home from school. My parents and I had a nice dinner with another barbecue and such. We have the makings for flag cake, well at least the pound cake, strawberries, and blueberries, and I was going to make a small one but went upstairs to lay down and watch Gilmore Girls (for the umpteenth time) after dinner and just now woke up... I'll do it tomorrow.

Well that's my fourth of July - it was a lot of fun going down memory lane! Hope you all had a wonderful, safe day!