Happy Independence Day!

First off, an exciting week was had last week

Lots of baking, like this loaf of rosemary bread that Natalie helped pick from a recipe book and assisted in creating.

And this giant cookie. Those "small batch" recipes on pinterest are killing me. We are eating way, way, way, way way too much dessert in this house lately!

Micah purchased this car, a suburu legacy, from a friend as we'd been planning. They moved up to a minivan and we're just glad to finally have a second vehicle. Micah will still bike to work, but this will be very convenient for those occasions when it's raining or when he and I have errands and activities that overlap, as is sometimes the case on weekends or with church responsibilities, etc. The car runs fine and has no problems, but it's quite old- 1995- and has 189,000 miles on it. Micah is looking forward to learning more about cars and fixing things as they go wrong.

The children, in their optimism, are quite impressed with daddy's "new" car and think it goes really fast.

"Slow down, Slow down!"
"We're Not slowing down, its the fastest vehicle in the world, Angela!"
"Yes!"

I'm still just amazed that we can fit both cars in the garage. Wouldn't have been possible a few months ago!

One cool plus is that this car has a roof rack, so we could tote kayaks/surf boards/bikes/etc if we ever find ourselves at the right intersection of time, money, and interest. Also good if we ever need to haul materials for projects, like large pieces of wood to board up windows for a hurricane or that 2-story ladder we need to invest in before Micah puts up the Christmas lights this year...

Fourth of July was great fun! A lot of my early shots of the parade in Melbourne were like this because of lens condensation from all the frozen bottles of water in my purse.

 The parade was small but we enjoyed it. Angela was amazed at how they kept giving her candy and Natalie had a great time waving and wishing everyone in the parade a happy Fourth of July.

Someone passed out icee pops- brilliant!

It was pretty hot, but fortunately we had a nice spot in the shade and drank plenty of water.

The stickiness was sooooooooo incredible

After the parade, Natalie said, "Let's have a little playground action", so we stopped at the park for a while, then headed home to clean and get food ready. We had a very fun cookout with a few people from Micah's work who we know from church and a few who don't belong to our church. It was a very nice party, everyone had a great time and the food was wonderful. I made this angel food cake, some banana pudding and potato salad. 

Micah cooked some chicken breasts and hamburgers on the grill. Friends brought some sides like watermelon and salad and fancy cheeses. Kids played in the sprinkler and kiddie pool and water table and we laid out a tarp at the bottom of our slide and set the hose at the top for a little slip-and-slide action. Our water bill is gonna be horrendous this month, but probably still lower than the cost of one months' maintenance for an in-ground pool :)

Once our friends left, we headed over to a park that is on the river. We were hoping to see the fireworks display in downtown Melbourne, just a few miles up the river from us, but trees blocked all but the highest fireworks. We could, however, see LOTS of other fireworks going off across the river in all of the beach side communities. We also saw lots of fireworks on our way home. This place is CRAZY about fireworks. Like, we heard people lighting fireworks off all night long Saturday, Sunday and Monday night. A few households in each neighborhood, it seemed, set off huge, high legit fireworks, not just the little sputtery, ground-type ones that have always been synonymous with "home fireworks" in my mind. I think the motto here on the fourth of July should be "Brevard: One county, one billion different celebrations."

Here's how the girls felt about our Fourth of July adventures:

It was a very full, fun day! I did wax a bit sentimental in the morning as the parade began and I felt gratitude for the freedoms that we enjoy... at least for now. It's hard not to be pessimistic about patriotism in an election year like this :/ I may not love America all the time, but I do feel like I'm trying harder and harder to love Americans, to feel acceptance and love towards those around me and be a positive influence on those who I come in contact with. And what is America if not the people who live here?