Fourth of July

The weekend was filled with fun and sun!  Thursday evening E went out with some friends that he knew from NDSU and had a good time.  Friday we took our time getting ready and just made a drive around town while we thought about what we wanted to do with the rest of the day.  We finally decided to grab lunch, pack some snacks in the cooler and find a park to play KUBB in.  

If you've never heard of KUBB before, it's like Bocci ball and bowling in a way.  It's a yard game that requires throwing wooden blocks across the yard.  We played this for a long time, E winning every time.  I've never lost so bad before! In the last game it started to look like I had a chance, but no, E made a big comeback.  

It was pretty cool being on base during the fourth.  It's kinda hard to forget what the day is all about when you're there.  We saw so many families, and this was before we headed to the big field where all the action was at!  We made a quick stop at the PX to use the air conditioning and toilets before heading out to check out the field.  At the field there were all kinds of things going on!  There was a car show.  The cars ranged from old cars, to cars that people had built, to little barbie cars, or tricked out bicycles.  We even saw a bright pink version of Herbie! 

Moving on there were an assortment of bouncy things for kids.  As we were walking through we just happened to arrive just in time to watch a dog show! It was pretty cool! They had dogs catching frisbees, and even taught the audience how to teach your own dog to catch frisbees!  Needless to say, this did not help satiate my yearning for a puppy : /  

They did really long throws, short throws, and trick throws where they jumped off their trainer's backs or through their legs!

Then we went over to the area where the stage was to set up our blankets for the concert later.  We sat around and listened to music, went back for another round of dog show, grabbed some fair food, and met up with a friend before the evening events progressed.

Look at all those people!  That's not even the half of it!

 

Lookin' super cool in their shades ;)

Sadly, we neglected to take a picture with normal faces...so here's our goofy picture!

I got my camera out just a smidge too late.  These guys forgot to bring chairs or blankets, so they had to make due with their water bottles.  The guy farthest away had been using the bottle vertically to lift his head higher before I got my camera out.

At five o' clock when the music started playing over the loud speakers to retreat the colors was maybe one of the coolest moments of the night for me.  Music had been playing loud and there were thousands of people crowded into one place, moving and making noise.  All of a sudden it was like freezing time.  Everyone stop, stood, and it was dead silent and super still.  Something about large groups of people doing the same thing at the same time, especially being still and quiet is awe inspiring to me.

Just before the concert started there were speakers and the like.  Then they did this thing (I can't remember what it as called) where they counted off all of the states (by year...sadly I forgot to ask what the year was about...the year they joined something?).  Every time they called off a state they would blast a cannon and you could see the cool ring rising into the perfectly blue and cloudless sky and people from that state would stand up and cheer.  This happened until they had listed off all of the states and everyone was standing.  This was also a really cool moment and something I'm glad I got to be a part of.

Finally, Chris Young came out to sing.  If you can't see in the picture, his arm is broken.  It was a good experience over all.  His sister and brother in law are in the military and he showed a great deal of respect for the soldiers in the audience, even stopping in the middle to take a selfie with  the crowd of uniforms in the background (the space right up close to the stage was reserved for soldiers).  It got me to thinking that if I were in his place, I would have felt pretty humbled to have had the opportunity to do what he did.

The night ended with some fireworks, timed with the music playing in the background.  After navigating the crowds and finding a shortcut through traffic home, we concluded that it was a pretty good fourth of July.  

Saturday we were invited over to someone's house from church.  They made us burgers and let us sit in their hot tub.  They also had the cutest puppy!  We visited with them and their son for a long time, getting advice, sharing stories, and generally having a good time.  We ended the night with homemade ice cream and a game of dirty board (which I liked very much!).  

Sunday we went to church.  After church we went to the library and got me set up with an account and we checked out a couple of movies.  We spent the rest of the day lounging around watching movies.  Monday we watched Castle, because season 4 finally came in at the library and E wanted to finish it before the week started so that he wouldn't be distracted from studying for his test on Friday.

We can't believe that it's already been a month!  We sure do miss our Katniss...And we miss our family and friends.  It's a little tough being away when big things are happening.  With loved ones dealing with sickness and others planning weddings, and still others enjoying their first months of life it's tough not to be a part of it all.  We want everyone to know that we think about you all the time and wish we were there!