It’s weird when the 4th of July lands on a Tuesday.  Your whole week is all wonky.  You lose track of time.  You wonder what day it is when you wake up.  Do I have to work today?  Who knows?

Other than being completely out of it, Adam and I had a great time these past four days.  I always enjoy when he gets time off work and we get to be together 24/7.  Not sure if he feels the same way, but he’s stuck with me so he’ll get over it! 

On Saturday we woke up nice and early to pick up our car and head to North Webster, Indiana.  Adam’s stepdad’s parents live there on the lake and we usually spend the 4th there with them.  There is always a rotating group of people at the house and it’s nice to spend time with that side of the family whom we don’t get to see that often.

Look at me using whom all fancy like.

We spent the day out on the boat, playing yard games, chatting, relaxing, and eating.  Pretty sure Adam ate all the pie but that’s ok.  What’s the 4th without some pie?  Saturday night the lake put on a fireworks show and we watched from the upstairs deck.  I love fireworks but I hate dealing with the crowds and the traffic and the mess.  It’s ridiculously nice to watch fireworks from your own house and not have to be near anyone.

Sadly, this weekend wasn’t all fun and games.  My brother-in-law’s stepmom passed away suddenly last week, so on Sunday, we headed to Valparaiso, IN to attend her memorial service.  It’s always tough to lose someone you love, but when it comes out of the blue, it stings a little more.  We spent the day celebrating Debi’s life and supporting her friends and family.

We got back to Chicago around 7ish and we were pooped.  We had some dinner and then headed to bed.  Adam had Monday off so we spent the morning kind of loafing about and then we headed out to Mount Prospect to celebrate the 4th with my parents.  It was just the four of us but we cooked up a bunch of stuff on the grill (including some delicious eggplant “burgers” that I’m going to have to post on the blog ASAP) and enjoyed the company.  I made my Olive & Tomato Salad because that is my go-to side dish this summer.  I also helped my mom make a lemon lasagna which I had never heard of before.  It’s full of stuff I can’t/don’t eat but it was quite interesting…

For the actual 4th, we decided to hang around Chicago since Adam went back to work today and we usually get back kind of late after all the fireworks festivities.  We ended up rearranging our bedroom and then relaxing for the rest of the day.  I just realized I’ve never put any pictures of our new apartment on the blog.  I should get on that….

I missed going to the parade in MP and seeing fireworks with my family but another cool thing about our place is that you can see a bunch of fireworks from our window.  You can’t see the Navy Pier show but after reading there would be an estimated 1 million people along the lakefront watching the fireworks, we decided to enjoy the various other shows from the comfort of our home because #ihatecrowds.  Just one more perk of our new apartment.

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend and were able to eat all the BBQ, enjoy all the company, and celebrate all the freedom!