America!

Our Fourth of July was different than any other one that we've had.  We are used to knowing exactly what's going on and knowing about all the "good spots" to hang out and watch the fireworks.  Since we don't know a whole lot of people yet, we just had to google something that was going on near us.  

We ended up going to the Firework Fest at Gateway, which was just 15 minutes from our house, AND I was pretty sure dogs were allowed...even better (since I can hardly go anywhere without Ollie coming along).  We parked and walked into this really nice mall-like, entertainment place.  There was a ton of people, two live bands, a splash pad (almost a must here in AZ), and food.  We were a little nervous about having Ollie because of so many people, but he did awesome!  He is usually a little shy when it comes to kids, but we had a constant amount of little hands reaching to pet him.  He got to the point that he would sniff their little faces and lick their hands.  Everyone loved him, and I was a pretty proud momma! :)

We walked around, enjoyed some music, sweat like crazy (oh yes, we experience our first "haboob" followed by a crazy thunderstorm the night before, so it was soooo humid...bleh...I hate humidity...hence why we came to AZ, but the storm was awesome!), let children flock to our pup, and then we got some food and found a place to sit down.

It was so crowded inside, and the liiiiitle bit of grass that was available was already covered in sweaty bodies practically shoulder to shoulder.  There is no way we would have fit, especially with our not-so-puppy-sized-puppy.  So we thought we would follow the rest of the crowd and sit down in the rocks that were in the parking lot (we're definitely not in Utah anymore).  We were amazed by how many people were "enjoying" the parking lot.  Actually that's probably where most of the people were.  So we joined, why not?  It wasn't horrible, but as we sat there, covered in our own sweat, unable to cool down, and sitting on rocks...we agreed that we missed our endless amount of grass, snuggled up, chilled Fourth of July nights in Utah.

No, I am not bagging on Arizona.  I am just complaining about the summer heat...just like everyone else does here.  I now understand why the Phoenix population decreases during the summer.  (We moved at the most perfect time, wouldn't you say?)  Brad and I are really good about making any situation really great.  So that's what we did!

We had a blast!

We laughed all night, felt proud about our cool dog, and about died of laughter the way that Ollie spazzed out during the fireworks.  We kinda knew he wouldn't love them, but he was so funny to watch.  Brad was able to hold him down, and within a few minutes he was enjoying them just as much as we were!  

Watching the fireworks!

We had a great Fourth of July.  We definitely missed being with our families, but we were happy to at least have each other.  We feel proud to be living in such an amazing country!  

Happy Birthday America!