Fourth of July.

This year, 4th of July was just....random. Being in the middle of the week made it feel less like a holiday. I definitely prefer 3 day weekends! Moving on....

This year wasn't like last year {no Popsicles, ice cream, or sun!}, which was probably my favorite day of 2011, but it was still a good day. Slept in and did things around the house... saw this cutie before she went off to swim.

Made more apple chips...went for a run {for real!}...read. Really exciting stuff!

Later was when the fun began! Amy, Debbie, and I went down to Newport to go on the Catalina Flyer for a fireworks cruise. I prepared myself for mad traffic and spending a very long time trying to find parking. When the freeway ended, I was shocked when we didn't have to stop until almost the light. That doesn't happen, even on non-holiday days! Finding parking didn't take as long as I thought either, only about 20 minutes. We walked around a little since we had plenty of time....

 Then we waited to board the boat.

 The cruise went around the harbor for about 2 hours and we saw a few different fireworks shows.

The drive home was loooooong. It took us over an hour to go 4 miles. Crazy!! But the whole night was great, because we had some really good conversations. I feel lucky to have Amy and Debbie in my life :)

Happy Birthday, America {a day late}!