Let Freedom Ring

And ring it has!!

As you saw this morning, breakfast was early and frantic to try to catch two different ferries and make our way to Bald Head Island for the day.

We made the Fort Fisher ferry with plenty of bird friends to chat with

Dive!

Old Baldy in sight!

Golf Cart rented

Our plan was to watch the 11AM famous 4th of July Parade. We expected a bunch of golf carts decked out in RW&B and were given so much more – from pirates to Spongebob to a yellow submarine to an ice cream truck to the winning Mr and Mrs Potato Head!

Lots of cute doggins!

I had forgotten how fun parades are for candy tossing!! Just when I was feeling my blood sugar drop, I repleted my glucose with a few pieces of candy – Double Bubble, Starburst..

And part of a Chilly Willy!

I supported the dune turtles by buying a cup of Turtleade!

Then we went to see the marsh

For lunch we headed to the beach club for a cookout buffet of burgers, dogs, chicken and fish plus salad, baked beans, tater salad

And beer! Shocktop for all.

Mom and I shared one

I filled my plate with salad plus beans (LOVE baked beans!!), a piece of mahi and a chicken drumstick that I had a bite of and shared with Matt.

The fish was great!

So were the burgers (Matt gave me a bite)

Larbs and I spent the next hour reading by the pool while Matt and Matt went down to the ocean to do boy things

Then we headed to a Bald Head holiday tradition – The Hammocks, which usually has a wine and cheese party. You may recall in this post that the event has been quite extravagant in year’s past – poolside martini bar, cheese, shrimp – all kinds of fancy foods.

Today was a bit of a disappointment. No pool to lounge by and just a handful of cheeses and some wine.

Here’s Matt’s handful

I had some grapes and a few cheese cubes

We decided to head for the 5:30PM ferry back to the mainland.

And who should we begin talking to than Heba and Ed from the Biggest Loser!!! They were SO nice and we chatted food and blogging and all things fun for a good 20 minutes!

Back on the ferry…

Sadly, we MISSED the ferry back to Fort Fisher. It apparently fills up fast

We had to take the long way home – a good hour drive, plus a grocery shopping trip. I got to look at Larbs’s hair for an hour in our Buick.

We originally were going to go to Wilmington for dinner/fireworks, but decided a night at the beach house would be more relaxing. And I am ALL about relaxing!!

Cocktail hour consisted of Terra chips – LOVE!

And a lime + tonic mocktail. I really am just as happy with a mocktail as a ‘real’ drink. I do like a little wine with dinner though

Family Key

• Kanz = My husband Matt’s nickname (named after the money Kanzi because he’s furry)
• Larbs = My sister’s nickname. Her real name is Laura Elizabeth Younger.
• Matt = Larbs’s boyfriend of 5 years. He and Kanz are not twins
• Chelsea = Matt (Larbs’s Matt’s) sister who is visiting for 2 nights!
• Karen = My mother-in-law, who we now live with temporarily, and who we miss this week!
• Koops = My nickname from middle school, high school and college. Kanz always calls me Koops and so does his family and most of my high school / college friends.
• Buzz = My mom’s childhood nickname

The most wonderful way to blog!! Beachfront. I took a few moments to write the first half of this post and sip my drink.

Dinner tonight was our traditional low country boil (recipe here!)

Shrimp + Corn + Potato + Kielbase

Plus a pile of Great Harvest Jalapeno Corn Bread!

Plus a couple of beers

Everything is better with Old Bay!!! Our family is huge on Old Bay. Have been forever.

Split a beer with Matt

Lucky us, we got quite the amateur fireworks show from our balcony!

There are too many temptations in this house!

Leftover birthday cake, Breyers..

Mom’s homemade angel food cake with an almond glaze…

I had a slice of angel food with some ice cream. Almost too much actually after that big dinner!

SO VERY TIRED. Got up too early and can’t wait to sleep in tomorrow and just stumble out onto the beach and have nowhere to be for 5 days!!!! After a great breakfast first of course!!