Fourth of July

I’ve grown somewhat discontent with the travelogue nature that my blog has taken on. But I can’t NOT write about the Fourth of July, because it was amazing!

I had anticipated being somewhat miserable on the 4th this year, simply because it is uncontestedly my favorite holiday and a particularly amazing 4th was being planned back home: my dad’s fireworks company did the Stadium of Fire fireworks, which I heard were to die for, and Journey performed for crying out loud (my mom instilled a love of Journey in me). Plus Utah just does the Fourth of July right.

I envisioned myself waking up on the 4th and weeping at the thought of missing out.

Enter Nathanael Neil.

He took me to my favorite big city to watch my favorite sport at Fenway where we ate one of my favorite foods. We can all agree that hot dogs are theoretically disgusting but actually delicious, right?

Sorry if you didn’t want a picture of my half-eaten food . . .

Then he took me to one of my favorite restaurants (yes, it’s a chain—shocker!) to eat another one of my favorite foods: CRAB WONTONS.

Nathanael had been so insistent and had smiled so mischievously when he told me we should go to P.F. Chang’s that I became a little suspicious. Then, when we were sitting there eating, I suddenly realized what he was up to. I said, “I see right through you! You’re trying so hard to make me have a good Fourth of July so I’m not depressed that I’m not home!” And then he smiled mischievously again. That’s a small taste of what it’s like to be married to a sweet man.

Then we bummed around Boston Commons and took a nap in the car before heading down to the Esplanade to watch the fireworks (thanks, Therese and Dan for the recommendation). We definitely didn’t realize that we needed to get there 12 hours in advance to get a good spot by the water, so we found a mediocre one in a nearby street. But hey, at least there were fireworks.

And then we sat in Subway with a million other people waiting for the traffic to die down while munching on salt and vinegar chips. What a good food day. It might just have been my favorite fourth yet!

Road Trip Part Four: York, PA

We left bright and early from Chicago to try to make it in time to see Nathanael’s brother Matthew pitch (and to see his wife and baby girl, of course)! After eleven hours, we made it in time to see him shut down the competition. His team won!

#1: The brothers. | #2: Doing what we do best. | #3: Matthew doing what he does best.

Huge thanks to Laura for the pictures! (Except the obviously unprofessional one in the lower right . . . )

# 1: I really hope our first child is a girl, because Nathanael has an enormous soft spot for them. | #2: I know this picture is blurry and totally wonky, but just look at Makenna’s expression of pure bliss!

We loved being able to see Matthew, Laura, and Makenna. They live out here in the East most of the time and we don’t get to see them as much as we want to.

The best part was that in Pennsylvania, we were able to just relax. We loved seeing the sites in the previous cities and we definitely love going out and doing things, but we also love occasionally not being obligated to do a darn thing. And that’s the gift Laura and Matthew gave us. No sites to see, no activities to rush off to, just lots of relaxation and baseball and family and delicious, homemade breakfasts :).

Photo cred: Laura