4th of July Weekend

We tried to do something fun for the weekend, but when you have a two year old, it's pretty darn impossible. We had planned to go to Mount Juliet all day since they had a fair thing going on (most of it free) but Dom was not really cooperating. And I decided that naps were more important. So, we celebrated lunch at home with some yummy hotdogs.

If you have not had whole milk mozzarella....you're missing out. Most of my life, I grew up thinking that the only mozzarella that existed was part skim. It wasn't until I got married that I discovered that there was whole milk cheese. It's amazing....so much better on pizza and salads...I will never buy the part skim kind EVER again.

Then ate early dinner (around 4pm) and headed to the fair. I know you're thinking..."why not downtown Nashville?".....um, it seems every time too many people gather in downtown Nashville, there's too many drunks or people get shot (lo and behold the midnight news did state that a couple of people got shot by hard rock café...)
We decided we needed a more family-friendly place. While Nashville is friendly, people stop as soon as the alcohol flows a little too much. I saw a shirt in a local store that said "there's too much blood in my alcohol".....yeah, that sums Nashville for you.

He was so tired from walking....he found a tree shadow and just
laid there....what a goofball.

So, off we went. They had a bounce house, face painting, balloon animals, caricatures...but Dom hated all of them. We were in line for the bounce house...and he REFUSED to get in...I mean, he looked like you were trying to put a cat in the bath....seriously. Then, we got in line for the balloon animals....he hated it. He's no fun. But then we stopped for an ice cream cone at Marble Slab Creamery....it's been SOOOO long since I've been to one. And it was so good....I've forgotten how awesome their waffle cones and ice cream is. Dom only cared for the m&ms instead of the ice cream....but he warmed up to it.

picking out the candy out of the ice cream

And he dives in....

Mommy takes ok pictures

Daddy is not allowed to take pics anymore.

At around 8:30 we drove our car to the main parking lot. That's where everyone was camping out for the fireworks show. And by camping- I mean it....there were RVs and people had massive trucks with inflatable mattresses. there were people who brought couches....seriously, the show was only like 30 min long. So, it was tough keeping Dom busy, but we did....and on 9pm...they started the show...and we were so close (we didn't realize it was too close) and Dom has had enough 20min in. Spencer didn't want to leave, but I didn't care. I actually had a headache from all the noise. Spencer, being outnumbered, had no choice, we let before the finale. And good thing we did....cause I hadn't realized how many people had actually shown up. The whole highway and opposite side of the road were FULL of cars....I can't help but wonder how long it took for THEM to get home. When we left around 9:25pm....the cops were setting up cones to help with the traffic jam soon to follow. So, we made it home safely by 9:30pm instead of 1am....haha suckers. Spencer has now decided that we need to live in an area where we can see the show from our backyard, and not drive to avoid all driving nonsense.

 While this is all fun, we can't forget why we are celebrating this day. I, for one, am very grateful for the freedom and "American dream" that can be achieved here. Most of you know that I wasn't born here, and I remember a bit about what I like to call my past life. It took my father 13 years to finally get us visas to move over here. We actually had permission from Canada to move there first , before the US visas arrived....that's how long the waiting line is. So, don't take it for granted. I know it's easy when this is all you know...but take it from me....it's not easily attained. So be grateful and teach your children the same. Happy Independence Day everyone!!

 

This is about as much décor as I was able to get...I'm slacking man.