A little more exploring and 4th of July

I had heard Spruce Street suspension bridge was not too far from us and wanted to go see it. It felt strange walking across it. It's so sturdy but sure enough, it moves as you walk (or jump in Eric's case) across. It it beautiful too, I'm glad we stopped to check it out!







The Saturday night before 4th of July my cousin Michael invited us over to hang out and grill some steaks. His girlfriend Terry was also visiting, it was so fun to meet her and catch up with Mikey. It's been a few years since I've seen him and Benny had never had the chance to meet him. He has officially met all of the Conrads. (Next time I'll have to get a better picture of all of us!)



On Sunday we took it easy and relaxed. However on our way back from the grocery store, I saw a sign for the apartment complex that has a new splash pad for kids.



We of course had to stop and check that out too, in case our nieces might be interested.



It's free and open to the public. It seems a lot of other people had the same idea that day, there were lots of kids there. It's actually a pretty big park, the little splash pad is just a small part of it. Definitely a cool place to stop and let kids out to run around.



 We relaxed the rest of the night and made sure Eric had everything he needed for his first day of work the next day!



His first day went great - it was all just onboarding/orientation type stuff. (He's only just now starting to get into the weeds of what he'll be doing).

Anyway - I had to keep myself busy while he was away. I basically applied for jobs the first half of the day and then needed a break. I decided to decorate our place for Eric's first day of work and for 4th of July the next day!



The only furniture we had in the house were the few things we bought from the thrift store and our air mattress so it was fun to spruce it up a bit.



So glad we got these chairs for outside - we sit out there every day.



The next day was July 4th! We tried going to Mission Bay... but we were wayyy too late on our game. Seriously, Mission Bay is like the least crowded beach I've seen out here so far. There's always so many places to park, stretch out, and have your space. But not on 4th of July.



We pretty much drove around for a good hour or so looking for parking.



It just wasn't going to happen. And we knew it wasn't going to happen at any other beach that late in the day. (If only we had our bike pump by this point!!) It was actually still really fun to see what was going on and so many people out. It certainly gave me the itch to rent some jet skis.



 There were lots of people out flying kites too, it's been far too long since I've done that.



After we learned our lesson for next year (DON'T go in the peak of the afternoon, DON'T drive unless you get there very early, DO bike), we decided to go back to our complex and enjoy our pool at home.



It was lots of fun without the crowds, and we still got to soak in some of the sun we were hoping for.



After dinner we stopped by the grocery store to get some cookies and snacks before we went to watch fireworks.



We got parked and all set up in the perfect spot to watch the fireworks show from Seaworld. We were still pretty early but we knew it was going to get crowded.

Turns out I looked a little too hastily at the schedule before we left. I thought they were going to start at 8:30, but they weren't actually going to start until 9:30. Oops. Good thing we like spending time together ;) We had a good time people-watching, snacking, and watching the sunset over Seaworld.



And at 8:45, Eric told me to turn around and look behind us. THREE different fireworks shows had just started going off simultaneously. It was some of the coolest fireworks I'd ever seen. Although I can't discount the year prior seeing about 20 fireworks shows in Florida the weekend we got engaged.



One of the coolest things about it was that they were all synchronized.



We opened up the sunroof and just sat up on the roof to take it all in. We noticed a 4th show going off to our right as well.







After the 3 shows finished, about 10 minutes later the Seaworld fireworks started going off. So we turned back around to watch those too.



We had the perfect view.









I'm so thankful for this country, our independence, and all those who protect it. I'm so fortunate that out of almost 200 countries in this world, I was born into an American family. Sometimes it's easy to take for granted the freedoms we have as we become more removed from a time when they were so threatened. This day is another great reminder that I'm lucky and proud to be a citizen of the good ole' U.S. of A. Happy birthday America!!