Sunday, July 14, 2013

Fore!

Time for the annual company golf tournament. I love golfing, but you need to play often in order to be any good at it. This is one of those things that happens when you have been together too long. My husband has had these golf shoes forever. I needed saddle shoes for my last Halloween costume, and found these golf numbers unused at a thrift store...it was only when we pulled them out did I realize they are effectively the same. I this point we usually turn to each other and say together, "We must divorce immediately."
But before that, let's hit the course! We had a bit of difficulty finding our hole (number 6) for the shotgun start, but that just meant we got to drive around in golf carts more. Yay! Boys in one cart, girls in the other.
So much expanse of course ahead of us.
Right out of the chute we were slightly off the course and on the other side of the road. No matter, we played it as it lay.
Eric hadn't played before, but made an awesome showing regardless.
This is my Titleist, and I whacked it a good 100 yard to get it to jam in here at the base of this tree. Not very lucky, considering all the clovers.
Mostly we weren't great this year, and I think we may have actually come in last.
No one was attacked by gooses, so that's a win.
It was fun, albeit, rather hot.
Nice work, Team Marrieds!

Pyrotechnics

Then, OMIGOSH, the fireworks started!
They shoot off from the park in town, and were mostly awesome, except the finale sort of fizzled a bit.
We could actually see a couple cities' fireworks from up here, which was fun.
Happy Independence Day everyone!

Rarified Air at the Top of the Hill

We were kindly invited to abandon the deepest depths of our street and celebrate the evening at a BBQ in the rarefied air at the top of the hill, just up the street!
Where the view is simply fantastic.
Really, really spectacular.
And after dining and fun, we started to hear the fireworks go off...though really, some looked more like something nuclear.
Places everyone, places! (Including the roof).
Let the fireworks begin!

I Love a Parade!

Everyone stand for the color guard please! I learned this important protocol from my grandfather and mother, and always enforce it around me. The semi-crotchety fellow who kept yelling random things like "NO MORE FEMA!" was among the first to stand, which I dug.
Joie de vivre! Frenchification for "the joy of living!" but on first glance, their fancy handwriting made it look to me like it said "Joy of Diving!" Which as a nearly 20-year scuba diver, I can get behind, but seemed a little out of place.
The Colonial Society of Idaho. All four of them.
A militant green army truck and a large local tomato? There is a local organic nursery here whose proprietors have been featured on one of those doomsday preppers shows. Makes perfect sense.
Boise parades have a dearth of high school bands and drill teams, which I love to watch and discuss. The Highlanders had a good showing though. It always seems to me like their socks don't come up far enough, I want to pull them up a wee bit.
BEST SHOWING EVER by the Idaho Korean Association. Korea FINALLY has a national song, which they performed like pros to...Gangnam Style! And they were COMMITTED to their performance, especially the little artist in the black Chuck Taylors. She never broke character once.
This group was Bikers Against Child Abuse. Which promptly forces a conversation about other sorts of abuse that they might not necessarily be against...wife...animal...eardrum...
The Boise Parade has these hilarious banners espousing the amendments to the constitution, carried by upstanding but sometimes highly-influenced teens. A lot of discussion ensued about how it seems like the banner promotes the quartering of soldiers, but in reality it prohibits the forced quartering of soldiers in civilian homes during peacetime. Those are some specifics they left off the banner. Leaving it open for a little more interpretation than we felt comfortable with. Happy Independence Day Parade, Boise!

Parade Cars

The parade marshal! Are they not always called the grand marshall? Is that only for the Grand Floral Parade? Anyway, we agreed, this 99-year-old World War II vet (red shirt) didn't look even close to 99!
You can just openly ride go-carts on the street? Huh. Learn something new every day. I thought they were like the old bumper cars in Seaside, where that big metal rod sticking off the back of your seat had to be touching the electrified ceiling, or some such business. Guess not.
Our discussion regarding Ms. Senior here was that this seemed a very age-appropriate convertible in which to ride, but in general, strapless dresses are usually subject to gravity and so rarely flattering, regardless of age.
The adorable convertible Thunderbird, one of my other finalists when I bought the Cooper, but didn't quite make the cut. The young lady in blue was the teen crownholder from Meridian, and we sat next to her very proud family. I'm not sure if adorable camera baby got that thing working in time for her aunt's appearance. Slacker. 
Heheheheh! This wasn't in Boise, it's Dad's sweet new ride in the Manzanita parade, around the same time as the Boise parade. SO! MUCH! FUN!
This made us laugh.Ben Franklin driving a white Camaro, hauling Davy Crockett like a princess, and blaring Aerosmith's "Love in an Elevator." My husband said it sounded a little like the random dream sequence from Happy Gilmore. YES! THAT! The price is WRONG, b!tch!

Parade Day!

Happy Independence Day! As you know, I love a parade. I am mostly against large groups of dullards congregating and generally hindering the flow of traffic, but I can make an exception for parade day. Shelby decided to join me (as my husband does not love a parade) for a morning of sitting in lawn chairs gabbing, people watching, and dilly-dallying.
Though really, as with most things in Boise, "large groups of people," is kind of subjective. I'm used to the guerilla parade watching of the Portland Rose Parade, where you either have to get up at 4 a.m. or have someone tape you off a spot the evening before. You need to have provisions for about 9 hours of parading, cause once you are downtown, you are stuck there for a while. And you must have access to a reasonable restroom, which comes at a premium. In Boise we showed up an hour before the parade and were mostly the first ones on the street.
The Independence Day get-ups were hilarious! I am generally over the over-glitterization, princessification, and tarting-up of the under-18 crowd -- but OMIGOD A RED-WHITE-AND-BLUE TUTU!!
An adorable fashion sense and a camera just like mine -- a girl after my own heart!
We both liked these matching holiday dresses, but I'm against the pink hat. And these two looked hot and discombobulated most of the morning.
And we sat right across the street from a building we had bathroom access to! Yay! I can get behind this easy, two-hour parade event.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

SUP?

My in-laws came to visit! Yay! But due to a strange series of goings-on, we were all a little discombobulated all week. So we didn't end up doing much. At least not many of the things we discussed doing.
So the last Saturday we decided to do SOMETHING. All pile into the truck and head for the reservoir!!
To try out my stand-up paddleboard on the...open (?) water. (As opposed to the pond, where I often paddle.) Carolyn is a natural!!
You know this one was good at SUPing, but i'm guessing that in general, it moved too slowly for him. He likes water sports that move at about 35 miles per hour.
I still brought the Norred Family Fun Island. This floaty toy has served us well for YEARS, and continues to be awesome.
Me? I'm a natural. :)
Plus, relaxation and cheese and crackers on the dock. When I was little and we would go out on Uncle Arnie's boat, my mom would always bring cheese and crackers...and pickles. That's boat food to me, and I just loved it.
I happened upon this hot dude on the dock...
...and got him to carry my paddleboard  back to the truck.
He finally had enough of hauling my gear in flip-flops, and just removed them. Such a dear. And such a fun day!