Fourth of July Party and Family Fun

Every year my sister and her family hosts a Fourth of July party, complete with a substantial fireworks show. Because of the large amount of fireworks this year they decided to co-host the party at their friend’s house with a larger yard so on the afternoon of the fourth we headed up to New York to help finish setting up. The party was a lot of fun and I had a great time: all their friends were really cool and there was a lot of good food (heard this second hand but I can also attest that it smelled really delicious) as well as the awesome fireworks show. I have to admit though that the highlight of the party for me was seeing my ex-stepfather (Tina’s father) again for the first time in over ten years. I was a total party pooper because as soon as he got there the two of us just holed up and had a three and a half hour conversation over some beers. It was so great – and I can’t emphasize that enough – to catch up with Robert and talk about camping and hiking and a bunch of other topics. We got so caught up that we didn’t even get a picture taken together which was a fail. But I really hope to be able to visit him soon. After he left the fireworks started and man, were they awesome. The Brevets really go all out! I also failed to get a lot of pictures in general, mostly because I started talking to a bunch of other people around that time, but Tina got her friend Katrina to take a picture of us and I managed to get some phone photos of the fireworks.

The party was just another great time I had while staying with my sister’s family. If I haven’t emphasized enough how cool they all are I would like to mention it again. Everyone is really easy going, really easy to talk to, and really easy to just spend time with. Unfortunately I only got to spend half the week while the kids were there since they were going on vacation but both McKenzie and Gabe were awesome. Plus Gabe makes great kale chips which earns him bonus points. McKenzie looked to be a master of making cupcakes which would have made us best friends in my previous, non-vegan life but alas…. The family also have three super-friendly dogs, one of which – Lulu – became my best friend and always wanted to play tug-o-war with some toy or another. See if you can resist this face: