3 Day Weekend

This July 4th was a memorable one, that's for sure! For the first time, the whole immediate Vaughan family - all 3 couples - were able to go out on the pontoon together. When we arrived at Lake Wateree, the weather was beautiful. It was around noon, and the sun was high in the sky. I lathered up with sunscreen - my fair skin doesn't tan so well, and I'd rather not burn!

Almost immediately, the crew separated into two groups. The men stayed toward the back, in the shade, and the ladies laid out in the sunshine, chit-chatting until the guys turned the music up loud.

It didn't take long to find the perfect spot, out in the middle of the lake. Captain Dad lowered the anchor, and we jumped in for a swim. The water was warm, except for a few shockingly cold patches. We talked and laughed and swam around the boat, and I felt about eight years old. :)

Before long, we all decided it was a good time for tubing. We climbed back into the boat except for Tim and Shannon, who got on the two-man tube together, ready for action.

The captain started up the boat and off we went, but it seemed like we weren't picking up much speed.

After a minute someone shouted that the anchor was still lowered.

Oops.

After that situation was remedied, we continued with our expedition. After Tim & Shannon, it was my turn. I rode on my belly for a while, and eventually got brave enough to sit up on my knees. What a rush! Next was my father-in-law. He was a tubing inspiration!

We stopped the boat for another quick dip, and realized that while we had been goofing off, we had failed to realize that storm clouds were beginning to roll in. As we moved toward the shore, the grey clouds seemed to be following us. The temperature was dropping fast, and we came to the conclusion that we needed to get going.

The wind was picking up as we walked back to our cars, and while we drove away, the rain came.

Tim and Shannon went to pick up baby Emily from Shannon's mom's house, and Justin and I stayed in Lugoff to have dinner with his parents. After that, we went home to lounge around a bit. Justin took a nap on the couch while I made myself look a bit more presentable.

When he woke up, the night was still young so we decided to go see the 8:00 showing of Hancock at Sandhill 16.

On the way in, we walked past two people - a dating couple, from the looks of it - sitting handcuffed on the ground while their car was being searched. Nice. I gripped Justin's hand a little tighter. This was supposed to be a nice area! We shook it off and continued with our date.

In the lobby, we laughed at an arcade game which was much too expensive to play ($2!) and had a very obvious misspelling on it.

The movie started off well, but about halfway through we started to hear a really strange sound that was obviously not in the soundtrack. It was a loud booming noise, sort of like thunder. Justin whispered to me that he hoped it wasn't gunfire; my mind immediately pictured the strange scene we had passed in the parking lot and I have to admit, I got pretty uncomfortable.

The echoing booms got closer and closer together, until they were so loud that we couldn't even hear the movie. All of a sudden I relaxed and laughed to myself. I cupped Justin's ear and whispered "honey, it's the 4th of July."

Why someone decided it would be a good idea to have a fireworks show so close to a theater is beyond me - it pretty much ruined 15-20 minutes of the movie for us. But the whole thing was pretty funny. I guess we know now what theater NOT to go to if we happen to get the movie urge on the fourth again.

So that was it for our Independence Day. Family, fun, and fireworks -- although we didn't actually see any ourselves except for a couple small ones in our neighborhood on the drive home.

***

On Saturday, we brought Ellie to the in-laws' to let her run around and burn off some energy.

She made a friend.

After a short visit, we returned home to relax and play our gaming systems (yes, we're nerds.) Oh, have I mentioned I got a Nintendo DS? I did.. and it's pink! I love it.

We also watched Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby together and enjoyed a good laugh.

Sunday we went to church and spent a little time catching up on some housework, since the weekend had taken its toll on our apartment.

It was nice to forget about the monotony of routine for a few days and just enjoy summertime. It's been a while since I've been able to do that. :) I hope everyone had a great holiday!

Love and Lattés,

Katie