4th of July wekeend shenanigans

Since I've been in Chicago, I haven't seen 4th of July (or 3rd of July around here) fireworks a single time. It's a tragedy, really. Here in Chicago, the city fireworks are set off down at Navy Pier, and people watch them from Grant Park. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE. It gets ridiculously crowded, and even if I rode my bike or walked, it would take hours and hours to get home from there. So, I've been explosionless, and very sad about it.

So, I told Alan that I would be explosionless no more. So rather than fighting the crowds at Grant Park, we decided to head North to my hometown for the 4th. Since I had Friday off and got out of work early on Thursday, we headed up Thursday afternoon. On the way up, we had dinner at Mickey-Lu's:



Gotta love a place that says "EAT" on the sign!

On Friday, my mom wasn't feeling well, so we hung out at my sister's house and made frozen watermelon mojitos:



Friday night, there was a little mini-reunion for my graduating class at a local bar. When I showed up, there was no place to sit, and my sister and some friends were sitting in a nearby booth, so we sat with them. They told us that a mutual friend's band was playing at the park across the street, so we thought we'd go check them out for a while and come back. By the time we finished listening, everyone had gone, so I missed out on getting to talk to people. I did talk to one guy who also lives in Chicago (hi Matt!) and works for RED BULL, so awesome! I could never work for them though, I'd drink nothing but sugar free Red Bull and have a heart attack in two months.

On Saturday, I went to see my grampa at the Veteran's Home. He's doing so much better than he was last time I saw him, it was a really nice visit. Then I drove over to my grama's apartment at the assisted living facility, but she was asleep so I didn't get to visit with her at all.

After lunch, with mom still sick, Alan, my sister and I all went to watch the parade, then we had some drinks and headed to the International Food Fest for dinner. Shortly after we finished eating, the fireworks started:


The moon was full!


The fireworks were bright!


The explosions were loud!


And they went on for a loooooong time!

It was a fantastic show, and I had a great time visiting up there. The downside is that I caught my mom's flu, so I've been sick since Sunday (the ride home was no fun at all, I can tell you). Hopefully, I'll be feeling better by Friday, when we head up there again.