Happy Birthday America and Abuela Meme

We have 2 traditions on the 4th of July. The first one is celebrating Abuela Meme's birthday and the second one is celebrating the holiday with the Zarcones. These 2 traditions come together almost every year and this year was no exception. After the dress rehearsal we attended the night before, the Zarcones came over and spent the night.The next morning started out leisurely and went quickly. Before we knew it, it was time to go to mt mom's house for a birthday lunch for Abuela. It was fun to have everyone together and we took some fabulous pictures of everyone dressed in their 4th gear and Jasmine and Eleana looked especially cute in their matching dresses (yes, this was done on purpose).The food was delicious. Mom made some summer soups (pea soup, my personal favorite and butternut squash soup) and had a full salad bar and baked potato bar. Everyone left full and happy as the food was indeed superb. I made banana and cream cheese cupcakes for the occasion and Abuela got to blow out her candle.After the food, we relaxed, chatted and had some music in the living room. Mom played La Cumparsita, a Uruguayan tango, and Abuela recited the recitative in the middle. It made me think of when Abuelo was alive and they used to dance this tango together.We said our goodbyes and headed to Mount Vernon. We had planned on going to Mount Vernon in the afternoon and staying until the fireworks that night. But that plan was thwarted when we arrived and found out they had closed Mount Vernon for the evening for a private event.
We went home and no sooner had we walked inside when it started raining - HARD. We decided perhaps it would be better to stay in for a while and so we relaxed for a bit. In the evening we headed out for dinner at Chili's and then on our way home, we drove by our secret place where we can actually see the Mount Vernon house and we got to watch fireworks there. So much for them keeping their event private...by the time the fireworks started there was a good sized crowd gathered around us watching the fireworks that marked America's birthday!