Did you decorate your dinghy?

Our 4th of July was the perfect mix of food, beach, parade, food, and fireworks! Even though there were only 4 of us, we wanted a variety of yummy foods so enjoyed food for days :)
Although I am not a big raw tomato fan, I do love balsamic vinegar, cheese, and basil, so I decided to do Caprese salad skewers.

Using my fresh basil plant, fresh mozerella, grape tomatoes and my favorite new balsamic glaze from Trader Joe's (thanks for introducing me to it Audra!)...the end result was pretty amazing (and pretty).

The rest of our yummy food included: chicken and turkey dogs, homemade guac, fresh salsa, lime cilantro chips, fruit plate with honey lime yogurt dip, corn on the cob, potato and macaroni salads, and star shaped rice krispy treats with red, white and blue sprinkles!

 Getting ready to eat...dressed in our red, white and blue finest!

 Me and my grillin' man...

 Making our plates...

 And it was amazing!

 After we finished lunch we headed down to the beach (where we had claimed a spot on the sand that morning at 8am because we heard the beach got super crowded). Unfortunately we didn't have much (or any) sun this day so we enjoyed the beach in jackets and wrapped in towels. The view was still beautiful and being on the sand is always fun.

We broke out the rice krispy treats (an obsession of mine), with strawberries and my new favorite licorice ever (red Australian licorice)!

That afternoon we headed down to the parade. Our more traditional 4th of July parade was on Saturday, but we found out there was a dinghy parade in the harbor so went to check it out.

It was fun to see everyone out on their dinghy boats decorated for Independence Day! This is a longstanding tradition and people were loving being out their showing off their decorated boats.

This pirate ship was the most impressive...

We felt like walking a bit more after eating such a huge meal so headed down to the pier to check out the view of the crazy beaches. Because of the weather I don't think it was as busy as it traditionally is, but there were still A LOT of people.

 We participated in one of our favorite activities...Sleeping on the sand!

 And then got active with a fun day of Smashball setting our summer record of 175 hits! That may be an all time high!

And about the time our game was done, Grant stepped back to get the ball and almost stepped on this guy! The jellyfish were apparently out in full force today!

Somehow several hours later we were actually ready for dinner and grilled up some BBQ chicken kabobs and veggies (plus leftovers from lunch) and it was the perfect dinner.

Once the sun set, we walked on the beach just a little bit north and watched the Camp Pendleton fireworks! Unlike the San Diego bay fireworks which made headlines for all of them going off at once (a 17 minute show lasted 15 seconds), our show was perfect...

A fun view of our street and the pier behind us...playing with different settings on the camera.

Happy 4th of July! I am so grateful to live in this country and I know that I take for granted my freedom far too often. Being so closely intertwined with the military community now, I am even more keenly aware of the sacrifice so many make on our behalf to protect these freedoms. THANK YOU!