ID4

cuddlyeconomist and I had a 4th of July BBQ at the house. The plan had been to enjoy the lovely yard, the new fence, and a nice day in the out-of-doors. Then we remembered we lived in Seattle. The morning was cloudy but dry, it sun'd up a bit in the early afternoon, then it proceeded to drop cold rain the rest of the day and through the evening. This is is pretty much how Seattle weather always is for the 4th, with the entire week afterwards forcasted to be completey clear, sunny, and in the 80s. Thankfully it was sunny just enough to coax some people out of their houses and cross those frightful bridges between them and our house.

jeliza and the girls, loree, tithonium, Denise, and several of Margo's friends including some from her MPH program made it. Good food. Good times. Warm house. Rhys had enough kid company to keep him amused and even a game of Apples To Apples on his recommendation/insistance. I managed to break in my new grill, and we had a good shelter to keep the porch dry while I did so. The party broke up as we hit sunset, while jeliza et all hung out a while for the first part of Independance Day.

After it got dark, the neighbhors decided to reinact Bagdad in the first days of Operation Desert Storm. Given Margo is easily startled, this was not a good thing. I also was not keen on having our new fence, shelter, or anything else set on fire. At least everthing was pretty wet after the rain. By midnight the noise had died down, although neither Rhys nor Margo slept very well.