Fireworks?

What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July than with a BBQ at my folks' house. My mom and dad put together quite a spread, ranging from chips and dip to strawberry caipirinhas.



Let's not forget the shrimp, mushrooms, shish kabob, steak...



... chicken of all types...



... and even clams. Ingrid devoured these in a matter of minutes. By the way, I should point out that my mom has this problem where she makes enough food to feed an army. I mean, look at all the food here. And it's only the four of us who are eating!!



The day and the food was pretty amazing, and we topped it off with a Fourth of July cake!... (Shouldn't those stripes be red, white and blue?)



With all that food, it was time to call in the recruits. Thankfully, Darren showed up to help us out. Now close your eyes, Darren, and make a wish.



Like magic, baby! How about a caipirinha to wash that down?



We later turned our strawberry caipirinhas into strawberry-blueberry caipirinhas... a solid idea. I must say that I look very strange in this picture. Especially with the terrible tan line I got from golf the day before... stupid golf glove.



I was so stuffed at this point... No more food for me, er, maybe some more caipirinha would do me good, though.



Okay, this photo needs some serious explanation. Back when we were younger, Darren thought the idea of getting a tattoo would be cool, a sentiment shared by many young men at that age. Darren's bright idea was to get "SWEET D" brandished on his arm. Uh, yeah... I know. Really lame. I can't believe he's walked around for several years with that ridiculous crap inked on his arm. To tell you the truth, even back when he first contemplated the idea I would definitely have steered him against it, but I didn't see it until he already got it done. At that point, all I could say is that it was "sweet," to say the least. Anyway, this was the last time we would see this retarded tattoo because he was getting it covered up the very next day with another larger one. In subsequent posts you'll undoubtedly see what the new tattoo because it spans the entire length of his puny arm. Bye bye Sweet D...



Eventually, night fell and it came time to head out to see the local fireworks show. We headed out and claimed our stake which had a perfect view of the evening skyline.



Look, Sweet D, haven't you ever heard of the saying "Three's a Crowd"?



Frosty joined us too for the firework fun.



Kids came out to see the show as well.



Some people started the show early with some fireworks of their own. After this momentary display ended, I overheard a guy say, "I paid $30 for that?!?"



And then, all of a sudden, the spectacular show began. I snapped this shot shortly after we caught the sound of exploding fireworks. Where are the fireworks, you ask? Well they're behind that huge layer of fog. That's right. We couldn't see anything. All we heard was kaboom! bang! boom! for about 15 minutes before we decided to leave... but not before I exercised my dominance over Sweet D in a brief wrestling match which ended with Sweet D giving up, as he always does.



That's right Sweet D,... you better be about peace, or else I'll have to choke your ass out again. And by the way, I'm glad to see you're living up to the name tattooed on your arm with that ridiculous pose. The "D" must stand for "Dork."



In the end, we headed back to the house... perfectly content with our full stomachs.