The fourth of July...2011 edition.

I've talked before on how I'm not such a HUGE fan of this holiday. (see here for my post in July 2010). But, Seattle weather actually cooperated this year and it was sunny and hot mostly all of the 4th of July weekend this year. I KNOW, I couldn't believe it either. It actually reminded me of how a true 4th of July should be, well, how it was for me growing up in the midwest. We had a family BBQ with the boys and Justin's mom on Saturday, and pretty much laid low the rest of the weekend. Meaning this:

Justin worked on this bike...

And some more... while I laid on the back porch in the sun and read. It was fabulous. In between, we played tennis, and basketball, and football with the kids... mid-afternoon, in the evening. Lots of fun.

Then, on the morning of the 4th of July, we went on 6 mile run, straight through the parade route in downtown Kirkland which, by the way? Absolute mayhem. It was kind of cool to see everyone out, though. I could see how it would be a fun event for kids.

Then we played more basketball...

And one more...  I'm not sure who was the reigning champ of horse, but it was not me. And, we definitely sweat our butts off. Seriously, it was HOT (which was awesome). We opted not to do fireworks this year since they didn't start until 10pm and we are lame old people who had to get up for work the following day at 5am. It was probably something we will regret for the next 10 years, the amount of time it will take for Seattle to be 80 degrees and sunny on another 4th of July. All in all, successful day. Despite all that's going on in our country, I still think it's a pretty damn good place to call home.