Tuesday, July 5, 2016

4th of July

For this years Fourth of July, we went back to Long Beach. We went in on a house rental with Daniel & Jessica, Mel & James, and one of Daniel's co-workers. We all had a good time for the most part. I ended up getting sick the second day we were there, so that was a bummer. Peter and I decided, though, that next year we want to switch things up and take a break from the beach. Whether that means we'll stay home or try going somewhere else. Not exactly sure which it'll be, but it will be something different.

Here we are packed and ready to hit the road. We left at 5 am so we could beat the traffic, and we arrived in Long Beach shortly after 8 am. Definitely made for a long day though.
After unpacking and getting settled into the house, we drove into town to tour the shops and grab lunch. We tried a new place this time for lunch, and it ended up being a better place than the usual one we go to.
Clifford won this knife in some sort of quarter game. Only cost him a couple of bucks all together. He was so proud of himself.
After hitting up the town we headed over for some beach fun
Here's Peter trying out Daniel's new toy
Once we got cleaned up from the beach, we headed out to our usual pizza joint for dinner.
Cousins discussing video games while munching on pizza
After dinner, Peter and I took our boys and Damien to walk around the town some more while everyone else headed back to the house. Clifford wanted to try to win another knife, so we took him back to do that. He ended up winning another one and gave it to Damien. 
New hats for the boys!
We stopped by the candy store. One of the treats we bought was a maple covered twinkie with bacon bits. Peter devoured that thing!
Back at home we hung around the fire pit for s'mores and a game of horseshoes

The next day we just all hung out, either back in town or at the beach. Peter bought himself a new kite, so that kept him and the kids busy. I started coming down with a head cold (at first I thought, and was hoping, it was allergies), so I took a couple of naps throughout the day.
Dominick taking a turn with the kite
Peter had to help hold Donavan or else he would have flown away with the kite!
Ending the night with a few card games

Day three was the day of the Fourth. Though Daniel got up at 6 am to grab a spot on the beach, the rest of us took our time getting ready for the day. We really didn't want to hang out all day on the beach like we've done years past, plus with me being sick and miserable I had zero patience to do that. Once we were ready for the day, we did swing by to visit with those on the beach. Peter and I hit up the bakery in town for some pastries and to get boys some ice cream. We stayed about two hours before I just had to leave. So Peter dropped me off at the house so I could nap, and he with Mel, James and all kids hit up the beach access closest to the house for some more kite flying. Once I woke up and they came back, we decided our two families would pack up and leave after dinner. We were suppose to leave the next morning, but with me feeling miserable, and everyone else just ready to go home after 3 days at the beach, we decided to just go. While we were packing up, I proposed that we just grab dinner on the road and we'd all by home by 8 pm. That sounded EVEN BETTER. So we kicked it into high gear, packed the cars and hit up McDonald's before making the long drive home. And we did make it back by 8 pm. It gave us time to still enjoy the rest of the Fourth and shoot off fireworks.
Pretty much how we all felt on the drive home
Finally getting the chance to spend the Fourth at home

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