4th

We had a fantastic 4-day holiday weekend.

On Friday Jay and I took the kiddos to see Toy Story 3.

A small fortune…

3 tickets to TS3 3D: $40 (apparently 3 year olds are FREE…thank goodness!)

1 Large Popcorn and 2 Large Diet Cokes: $18.50

Cute movie, but don’t waste your money on the extra 3D charge….

{Super cute grainy cell phone pic}

Later that evening 3/4 of the Sullivan gang joined us for dinner ~ Teriyaki Burgers, dogs for the kids, BBQ Potato Salad (which I added chopped jalapeños to!) & grilled sweet white corn.

For the burgers I just added some Montreal Steak seasoning and teriyaki sauce to the meat before making the patties. Jay basted the burgers with the same sauce while on the grill. We also grilled some pineapple slices to go on top! King’s Hawaiian buns ~ YUM!

Grilled peaches (with brown sugar & cinnamon) and vanilla bean ice cream for dessert!

*****

On Saturday we headed to Venice Beach and Santa Monica for the day.

I was immediately reminded 2 minutes after arriving why I haven’t been to Venice in over 15 years….

But at least we visited and can check that off the list now.

Being entertained by the plethora of hilarious t-shirts for sale:

Waiting for Holdy to zip up his sweatshirt “by myself!”:

I think this is my “let’s get out of here” face:

By the time we got to Santa Monica the sun was out and it was gorgeous.

Jay was craving wings, so where did we go for lunch?

Think orange shorts. Super short orange shorts!

It was actually nice…we sat out in the patio along the street and people watched, sipped ice cold beer, dipped fried pickles into spicy horseradish sauce and shared HOT (as in 9-1-1 hot) boneless chicken wings dunked in Blue Cheese and Ranch.

{The fried pickles here are the best!}

The street entertainers were out in full force so we strolled up and down, listened, watched and dropped dollars in their buckets.

My fave for the day was a twentysomething girl who sang Andrea Bocelli’s “Time To Say Goodbye” half in English, half in Italian and Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic. Cheesy, I know, but I just enjoyed listening to her and we even followed her after she shifted her spot to the other end of the promenade.

Jay ducked into Sur La Table to pick up this, and I took the kids next door to Yummy Cupcakes for a couple minis. I finally sampled the Coconut one….new fave!

Saturday night Jay did another beer can chicken and we made soft tacos based on this recipe.

Drizzled with chipotle-lime crema:

Delicioso!

*****

The 4th of July was greeted with some Krispy Kremes:

Later that afternoon we joined Emma and her family for some pool time, chips & salsa, margaritas, and a BBQ before heading out to catch the fireworks with The Sullivans.

As American as apple pie:

We parked our chairs across the street from the mall and waited for the show to start.

Spotting one:

It was a great show once it got started!

Enjoying some ‘mallows:

*****

Yesterday it was a small dose of reality.

Jay and the kids dropped U-Rod at the airport. I stayed home and straightened up. We lounged around and kept it classy watching episodes of “Operation Repo” on True TV!

To close the weekend, we made Pink Lemonade Ice Cream and visited with some old friends from Gilroy…Gina, William & Matthew visiting family here in Valencia.

{Emilie, Elliott, William, Dominic, Matthew & Holden}

They played out in front for a bit after the street lights came on.

Summer at it’s finest!

*****

Back to the old grind today.

Counting points.

Doing loads of laundry.

Heading to the gym this evening to start working off the the yumminess of the last 4 days.

Hope your entering the week with wonderful memories of another 4th!