July 3rd and 4th

Our friends from Hawaii, the Mooneys, were able to come down for a nice visit this last weekend. We packed everyday with them. Friday evening after they arrived we went to dinner with the Clevengers. They know all the good restaurants having lived here for over a year now. (We also knew them in Hawaii. Jo, Amaya and I were together a lot during deployments.)

(Recreated pose from a night in Honolulu. We all look different, especially me.)

We went to a Thai place in Carmel, very yummy and very affordable. I never get tired of Thai. :) I am already planning on returning. Afterward, we went to another restaurant that has a lot of character. It is called Forge in the Forest and is also in Carmel. Basically, almost every table has some sort of fire to gather around and nosh. The general theme in the place was an old blacksmith shop, but classy. This place apparently had the "best dessert ever" so we had to go. Turns out the dessert was pretty heavenly. It was a chocolate chip cookie baked in a skillet with ice cream on top. Yum! We had to oblige. Daniel and I shared as well as each of the other couples.

We cuddled with our hubbies in the cool weather around the fire. It was pretty nice.

The next morning we all met to go to the Monterey 4th of July Parade together. The parade was good...not enough music. There were no local high school bands. Hmmm. There were plenty of interesting floats and participants. I will post about that later.

We enjoyed walking the streets afterward at a street party.

Clevs to the left, us, and the Mooneys.

We took the Mooneys home with us to show them our house and make a commissary stop before our beach party. Oh, that's right. Beach party.

Later that afternoon we all headed to the Carmel beach for a cookout and bonfire. It was a really warm day for the area. It was probably 75 or so. Ha! Perfect for the beach day. We came ready for the cool evening though.

Several families that mostly knew the Clevengers, but through military connections knew Daniel, all came to the cookout. Marine Corps connections happen all the time here. There are so many fewer Marines stationed here, besides the Corps being small. All in all about 7 families showed up and everyone brought yummy food. Good thing too, we were on the beach for about 7 1/2 hours. Too beautiful to leave.

Jo brought fixin's for s'mores. Smart lady. Another wife brought hot cocoa and a couple thermoses of hot water. Another smart lady.

Here is Daniel perfecting his marshmallow roasting:

And here he is enjoying it.

It was a beautiful day. Unfortunately, no fireworks. Most of the cities around here did not do any shows because of the economic depression the state is in. Kind of a downer, but it was still a gorgeous evening. We had natural fireworks on display at sunset.

As it got darker we played Catch Phrase, a favorite game of ours, and watched the sunset.

More time for photos.

It was a beautiful evening. God has made Himself so evident through His creation. I am thankful for His word as well. He has chosen some beautiful ways to make himself known in this world.

It was a splendid 4th. It is still one of my favorite holidays despite not having fireworks this year. I do love celebrating this country. We are so very blessed and so very undeserving. Maybe I will always be a patriot queen, as my junior year history teacher called me...