The 4th of July

 Independence Day 2022 was all booked up:

• 8am: Annual White Family Independence Day 5k
• 9:15am: Annual Wise Family Independence Day Breakfast
• 11am: baptism of Rose and Amber's neighbor buddy Dekker Martin at the church
• 4pm: my first ever attempt at cooking on a grill
• 8pm-midnight: loud, sporadic booms and pops of independent fireworks coming from all directions

Post-5k family patriotic picture

We had our traditional 4th of July family 5k at 8am, and about 20 people came to run with us. Jeff ran it in 20:20, I finished in 22:35, Jay's time was 25:30, and Rose ran her first 5k ever in 29:41, finishing neck-and-neck with her friend/classmate Joe. Woo-hoo! Amber played with her friend Sam in the dirt nearby while we ran. 

Right after that, we caught the tail end of our friends' annual family 4th of July breakfast. It was pleasant and fun to chat with friends for 45 minutes or so. Right after that, we dashed home to change into church clothes and went to the baptism of Rose and Amber's neighbor buddy. Jeff was the only one who showered before changing into church clothes (I voted him shower priority because he sweats the most when he runs, haha). I took a nap in the afternoon in preparation for the inevitable firework noise later.

After my nap, I dug out our dusty charcoal grill (we've used it once, maybe twice), cleaned it, looked up how to use it, and stacked and lit the charcoal. While the charcoal was heating, I prepped the burgers. Grilling was a smoky sweaty uncertain business. It was my first time grilling EVER in my life, and I have to say, I didn't love it. It was a smoke bath and it took forever. The entire process, from getting the grill out to finishing cooking the burgers took nearly 90 minutes. (The grill was very greasy and gross before I cleaned it.) Jeff was too tired to deal with the grill, so I made it happen on my own but I'm not sure it was worth the extra effort. 

We had our grilled dinner at a folding table in the front yard. The weather was pleasant and mild, maybe 80 degrees at most. 

The firework sound barrage began after 8pm and continued to midnight. We didn't go anywhere to watch an official fireworks show, but we heard every firework that was set off within several miles of our house! Even though it wasn't the most patriotic activity, I watched a large number of K drama episodes while waiting for the noise to die down so I could go to sleep. The fireworks were kind of visible from our house from afar, but the noise felt very close. The kids watched the fireworks for about half an hour before heading to bed.

Grainy picture of the first wave of 5k finishers (pictures sent in SMS text messages between iPhones and Androids are compressed practically into minuscule oblivion, but I'm still happy to have this picture because I did not have my phone on me to take a group picture before everyone left).

These kids are so strong and tough!

I grilled eight beef burgers and eight Beyond Burger soy patties. Rose and I thought that the flavor of the vegetarian patties was superior to that of the thin wimpy beef burgers that I grilled.

Grilling in my flag dress. I was so smoke-saturated! Wearing the star spangled banner in a cloud of smoke felt very back-to-the beginning, what with the Rocket's Red Glare and Bombs Bursting in Air. Still, no matter how authentic it may have been to smoke my flag dress, I was ready to change and shower after sweating over the grill for all that time.

Flipping burgers on a grill was much harder than expected, but I did not lose a single patty to the charcoal below.

Sitting on a folding chair and waiting for the grill to do its job. I wasn't sure how much to vent the smoke, so I settled on a mid-range half-open vent. Maybe it should've been less, because the thin patties took forever to cook. Or maybe I needed more charcoal. Or maybe it doesn't matter because I honestly don't care to grill anything ever again, haha.

Setting the front yard picnic dinner table. Grilling and photographing the "event" was not easy. I was wiped out by the end of dinner!

One last front yard dinner pic. We could only find four folding chairs, so I got a "real" kitchen chair and it felt like a veritable THRONE above my family's short flat folding chairs. A fitting seat for the Queen of the Grill!