Gimme a hotdog, and 50 nifty stars on the flag.

Ah! (that was a regal, noble sigh) another 4th of July passed and gone. I remember last years 4th quite well....I was at the Disneyland 4th of July Spectaculaaaarrr!!!! However due to winds of higher elevation the ceremony was 'modified'. Well modified is in the eyes of the beholder, because I'm pretty sure it was one of the most super-rad things I have ever seen. I went with my big sister, Melissa, and her family. I can quite clearly re-call clutching my niece in one arm, a cotton candy in the other hand, bawling my eyes out, as colors exploded in the sky, and (colors that Disney probably invented and sold to Crayola) a montage of songs including 'Shenandoah', and 'God Bless America' blared throughout park. Any onlooker at the time might have assumed that I was a divorced middle aged woman, whose dog died, and just realized how much she hated her job as a secretary in a small town, for a lawyer who makes awkward passes at her (please don't let that be a premonition). I never knew that I loved America and fireworks, furthermore the combination of both. Though I must take into account that we had spent 48 hours total at the park...and my sister was pregnant at the time. Regardless of Melissa's state, the fact of the matter is that sisters fight. So you can only imagine the escalated honesty and brutality that had accumulated over the weekend. No worries, I stepped back and held my tongue, which what we usually do when we're dependent on someone. Anywho, this year was an amazing follow-up, I visited my dear friend Kimmy's family, The Dumonts. We went to her Aunt Kerry's house in the Laguna Hills. There were 10 people, and 7 dogs (A statistic that makes me feel a bit uneasy, even as I type this in the safety of my own house). Of course the amount of appetizers outnumbered the guests, and were fed to us hours before dinner, up until dinner, and were still out after dinner.

I would like to take a moment and thank the man/woman/machine/alien who invented stretch denim. For it was this brilliant fabric that allowed me to eat like an American, on my American holiday, without an overbearing muffin top.

Ah! (regal, noble sigh) Back to the celebration! Like I said, Aunt Kerry's house is in the Laguna Hills, which gave us a great view of 3-4 firework shows, including Disneyland's! Oh sweet Shenandoah....(flashback), she also took the liberty of putting together a 4th of July mix, which was basically John Williams greatest hits. I could never quite tell whether we were listening to Superman, Indian Jones or Star Wars. Nevertheless, the colors were flying, the dogs were barking, and the eyes were watering.

God bless America and stretch denim!