My earliest memories of 4th of July are from Enfield, Connecticut. Every year, my family would head up there to visit my grandparents and participate in parades, races, and all manner of other patriotic whatnot. I loved the camaraderie, atmosphere and having an excuse to wear bright red, white and blue clothes for a day. Not to mention the watermelon eating contest. I didn't even play to win. I just really loved free watermelon. Since then, 4th of July has meant spent time with family, good food and blowing things up in celebration of independence.
Having grown up a bit since then, I now understand that that watermelons and fireworks don't grow on trees. Though that would be pretty darn cool. I want a watermelon tree.
Well thank God for them internets.
In any case, while I've generally partaken of delicious, traditionally American food on 4th of July, I haven't hosted people for an amazing barbecue. So, about a month ago, I started inviting people up to the lake for 4th of July in the hopes of getting a nice group together for an awesome party. I'd say it was a big success. Ben and Lisa were back in Michigan for the weekend and were kind enough to come join us. Lisa's parents also made the trip out to the lake for the day. Then there was Justin who, of course, was there, because he's awesome. Louis and his friend Kathy came out and the Nicholases joined us for the afternoon. Bart, Rhonda and Zach were up for the weekend already and Dawn and Tony not only came and partied, but also brought a venison shoulder and a karaoke machine.
What's nice about 4th of July barbecues, at least in my experience, is that they're supposed to be relaxing and fun. So we didn't have a ton of activities planned or anything like that. Bart had made a beautiful corntoss game for us that we had out for people. Its sort of ungodly how good he is at it though. My parents gave people rides on the jetskis and the pontoon boat and then we fed people. Of course, with all the traditional 4th of July amenities - ribs, brisket, potato salad, tossed salad, venison, delicious grape leaves and mixed fruit. You know, summer food.
Though hosting was a fairly new experience for me (and therefore qualifies for the project), it was a day steeped in the familiar. The food was both delicious and nostalgic, the feeling of fresh, cool water in the lake was refreshing and I was blessed to be surrounded by people I adore. Not to mention fireworks and karaoke, which were the perfect cappers to the evening. The official fireworks were the night before, but every few minutes, random neighbors would set off small explosions for freedom just in case we forgot what day it was. At the end of everything, we were all so tired we basically collapsed. Totally worth it.
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