Fourth of July

Last year was our first Fourth of July at 35 Rolling Hills Road, and it was thrilling to be able to see from our backyard two sets of fireworks -- those put on by Sausalito as well as those put on by San Francisco.  So we vowed that we would have a party this year.  But especially with the holiday falling on a Friday, very few people whom we invited were available to join us.  In the end, four other couples and 10 kids came over for dessert and fireworks starting at 8 pm.  

Bryn, Luke and I had planned a few games and activities, including a watermelon-seed spitting contest.  I went to FOUR grocery stores and one small farmer's market looking for a watermelon WITH seeds, but to no avail.  So instead we had a cherry pit spitting contest!  (Wouldn't you know Ken went to the big farmer's market in San Rafael a week after the fact and bought a watermelon that has so many seeds there's hardly any flesh to eat!)

The kids made "bubble snakes" constructed of plastic water bottles and pieces of old socks dipped in Dawn dish detergent and water.  These ended up being a big hit!  Some of the chains of bubbles easily exceeded two feet, and they'd drift up into the sky, like the donut above our neighbors' roof, in the last photo below.  

As it turns out the fog rolled in this year, as is typical for July and August in San Francisco.  We were able to see Sausalito's fireworks clearly, but when we looked toward San Francisco, there was a black strip of fog covering the skyline.  We saw only the bottom and very top of the San Francisco fireworks, which made for the most unusual fireworks display I've ever seen.  It's easy to entertain by providing only dessert, so we'll try again next year.

P.S. Nana made the tie-dyed t-shirts a couple of years ago. :)