When we woke up yesterday, Ben and I realized we still didn't have any plans set in stone for the 4th of July, so we thought we'd wing it as far as holiday festivities went. We spent the first few hours asking each other "what do you want to do?", which is a normal occurrence at our house. After realizing the madras shorts I had purchased the day before didn't fit, we made a trip to the mall to exchange them. Afterward, we were still stuck on ideas of what to do, so we cruised the Route 29 strip, hit up Chik-fil-a for some shakes and then made a phone call to some friends to see what they had planned. Nate and Hillory invited us to go to some friends house up at Lake Monticello for a BBQ and to watch fireworks. It was a BYOM (bring your own meat) kind of party, so we headed to the local Krog and picked up some bratwurst, buns and lots of soda for the rest of the folk. I'm still not sure if getting bratwurst was the best idea since when we got home we watched the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest where Joey Chestnut beat the world record by eating 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes and knocked Takeru Kobayashi out of hopes of winning for the 7th time! Way to bring the yellow mustard belt back into America!! I'm still waiting to see his name appear when I google "hero". I think I almost threw up a couple times watching these people stuff hot dogs and buns in their mouths, yet for some reason I could not turn away from the television.
Anyway, after watching that we decided to go see Ratatouille, which Ben and I have been wanting to see. We're both fans of Pixar movies and with all the great reviews it has gotten we were sure it wouldn't disappoint... and it didn't! It combined some of the things I love in life; cooking, Paris, rats (ok, I don't LOVE rats, but I grew up with pet rats) and ratatouille. When I did a semester abroad in Paris, they lady I lived with fixed ratatouille a couple times a month and it was divine. So back to the movie, it was very well done. Not super predictable, it had unique humor and it was just clever. I wasn't so sure if kids would like it as much as adults, but with talking rats and a lot of chases, I guess you can't go wrong. "An American Tail" was a great rodent movie (the sequel wasn't as great), but this one definitely surpassed it. I would recommend this movie to just about anyone. A must see!After the movie we headed over to Lake Monticello to enjoy some friends and food. We had a great time. We (or at least I) got a couple mosquito bites, didn't get grossed out by the bratwurst after all, had some delicious sides and dessert, and then got to enjoy a great firework show. It was shorter than last year's show at Lake Fairfax, but perfect since we still had to drive half an hour to get home.
We were both exhausted by the time we got home and a little sad that it would be back to the ho-hum today, but all in all it we had a fun day. Happy Birthday America, and sorry we spent most of the day thinking about food.
Nate's idea of a good picture.
Much better.
5 comments:
Couple of things:
1. Last year's fireworks show was at Lake Fairfax, not Lake Anne.
2. I can't say that I was rooting for Joey Chestnut more than Kobayashi. Even though it was the Fourth of July and everything, I still found Kobayashi's personality, his overcoming of his debilitating jaw injury and his amazing near-comeback in the last few minutes of the contest to be much more compelling than Chestnut's nationality. Although Kobayashi's "reversal" at the end was pretty disgusting.
Does that make me a bad American? Do you have to root for someone just because they share a common nationality?
3. I agree with your movie review. I would rank "Ratatouille" pretty high in the Pixar canon. Definitely better than "Cars" and "Finding Nemo." Close, but not quite there with "Toy Story" and "The Incredibles." I'd say on par with "Monster's Inc." and "Toy Story 2," which is still pretty good.
One day I'll make a complete Pixar ranking. I'm sure "Wall-E" will be #1 when it comes out though (I can't believe that Johnny 5 got another chance in Hollywood).
4. Finally, I think I look better in the first picture than the second, but that's just me.
Ratatouille! Wow, we saw it too. We kept oohing and ahhing at the wonderful french details! I think it was a work of art....fun too! I'm glad you had a fun 4th. We took the scooter to the parade in downtown Provo. People had camped out days ahead (according to Josh) but we drove right up, 20 yards away, parked the scooter, watched for about 45 min. and left a little bored. Most of the day was spent working on the house, movie in the afternoon with Nat, then we watched the Stadium of Fireworks show from Aunt Ann and Uncle Bob's church parking lot. The show was sooo long, I almost fell asleep! But it was incredible...I guess ranked #1 in the nation. Not bad for free and not even a problem with the crowds!
ben, i think it's okay for you to root for people of other nationalities. for example, yesterday while watching wimbeldon i rooted for venus williams (the u.s.a factor) but then i rooted for the french girl instead of serena! so as long as you keep it balanced!
Ben you should move to Japan.
Sounds like fun.. but I still wish you would have been with us. We are having such the marathon vacation. Maybe we'll never come home. I'll have to tell you all about our adventures when we return. Haven't decided if that will be tonight or early tomorrow morning. We'll catch tomorrow:)
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