4th of July

What a weekend! I'm just now starting to get some sleep and even have the desire to do a blog about it. Mostly, we ate. And I mean ate - I think I consumed more than a normal person should consume in about a week's time. Barbecue, Mexican, burgers, pizza, ice cream -you name the junk food - I had it. But back to the beginning. This week Jared's family came down (except a missing brother) and spent the weekend with us. On Friday, we went to Galveston and rented a surrey. For any of you that has been lucky enough to ride on one of these bad boys, its quite the experience. Lucky me, it wasn't my first time. One of my close college friends actually OWNED one of these things, so I have many good memories of surreys. With bruised up knees and skirts flying up, we had a good time knocking over people near the beach before deciding to check out the less crowded side of Galveston (dirty alleys, old houses, and such). We even raced around a parking lot where I promptly knocked the chain off somehow and Jared had to get his hands all greasy to put it back on.

Jared being the chauffeur with,Mike, Kelly, and Stoney riding in the back. I have to say that Jared did pretty good, but when we were racing around the parking lot - Stoney beat his time - he knows how to cut the corners.

Then we went to eat and watch the fireworks from the beach. Now, I've seen some great firework displays in my day. Willcox's fireworks were always something to behold...since quite a few of you have been lucky enough see those - I will spare you the details. It's sufficient to say that a 5 minute speech went along with each and every firework describing exactly who donated the funds for that particular firework. What would have taken grand total of 5 minutes, took an hour. So, these Galveston fireworks were quite the event. I couldn't believe some of these things they are capable of doing with fireworks these days. Of course, you can't go to a 4th of July celebration without being grateful to be in America - and what is more - now I'm a Texan which gives me about 150% MORE pride than I already had.

At the beach around dusk - waiting for the fireworks.

The next day we went to the science museum which has some pretty cool stuff. But, I have to say the best part for me was the butterfly exhibit. I hadn't been to it before, and for the first time ever I witnessed a butterfly coming out of its cocoon. Mike, Jared, and Stoney before heading into the museum.

Also, they had a "jungle" with live butterflies flying everywhere. I couldn't remember how much butterflies pooped, because I've had bad experiences with going into these places and coming out with suspiciously nasty white stuff on my head. But I figured my chances were good, there didn't seem to be that many birds. Instead, I got a little footage of me harassing a butterfly who was just minding his own business until I butted in. And then this happened.

Try to ignore how annoying my voice is on video. I have a bad history of being incredibly dingy on film. Some of the first films I'm in have me jumping around and squawking like a chicken for no apparent reason. Literally. Of course I was probably 9 or so at the time, but as you can see, I haven't changed much.

As you can see, while I was messing around, I made a friend on my arm. He stayed with me for quite some time and I was getting quite attached to the little fellow when he finally flew off.

To end the weekend we ate yet more food and went swimming in a little pond. It really was a great weekend and I enjoyed myself immensely. Next time, maybe I won't eat 30 lbs of food.