Happy 4th of July 2021

The rain finally subsided a day or two before the holiday weekend and went on to ruin the 4th of July for those residing on the East Coast. But for those of us in the Midwest, it did leave in its aftermath cooler weather especially in Michigan. Friday was a bit too cool for the beach so it was yard games, a visit to Virtue Cider and then a smoked dinner followed by a bonfire and s'mores with friends. Pretty low key but still enjoyable to be semi normal again after last 4th of July. 

Saturday morning was a leisurely breakfast followed by more yard games (lots of cornhole/bags) and then finally off to the beach for a few hours. It was there that only a brave few ventured into the frigid water. Peyton was one of them. The rest of us soaked up the sun in between some clouds and cooler winds while catching up. The kids (and Tom) built a city in the sand and some (Austen) played beach games with the adults. We needed to watch our time though as our big dinner was planned for the 3rd of July with more smoked meat (ribs and pulled pork) compliments of our friend and his wife who came over to eat with our other friends. It was a good little group of 14 including the kids. We took our time eating appetizers and drinking some summery cocktails before hurrying off to a fireworks display on the beach. Tom lit a huge bonfire that finally needed to be put out with lake water and sand. Poker was played that evening once we returned home (Austen participating) and more drinks and desserts were had.

Sunday was the actual 4th of July but we had planned most of our festivities for Saturday because we needed to be home on Monday for endless kids' activities. So Sunday we had another leisurely breakfast, walked around downtown South Haven and ate some ice cream at Sherman's. We played more bags/cornhole as well as bocce ball before our other friends left and we prepared to return home. It was odd not going to a big fireworks display. For the second year in a row, South Haven canceled theirs - last year because of the water levels and COVID and this year they said because of COVID but maybe they just wanted to save money. We saw a lot anyway on the way home from Michigan and the best part about driving home later that night on the 4th of July was there was barely any traffic so we got home quickly! Hurray for America! 

Virtue Cider

The South Haven Pier on the 4th

 

Beach Fireworks