Happy 4th of July

i hope all of my fellow Americans (currently residing in the US) had a lovely, long holiday weekend. i was fortunate enough to have a half day on thursday, making my weekend 3.5 days long. i used every ounce of it i could. i headed straight from work to the cabin on thursday. i relaxed, enjoyed the company of my family members, golfed, swam, ran, ate, played, ate, snuggled with my nephew, ate, and laughed a lot (did i mention that i ate, a lot?). it was a fantastic weekend. on friday afternoon i golfed the best game i ever have at my cabin, by quite a bit. i was rather happy with my performance, especially since i have a client golf outing in a week (which always makes me nervous). i got in over 40 holes in 3 days, suffered a slight sunburn and lots of skeeter bites. the small community that my cabin exists in puts on a golf cart parade and games every 4th of july. even my 78 yo grandma participated. her team came in first in the water balloon run, but she later had an egg burst onto her during the egg toss. it was worth many laughs. my mom was my partner for the egg toss, let's just say it's a good thing that i got my dad's throwing/catching skills. on the second round, my mom whipped the egg at my head, catapulting past me to its crushing death when it met the ground. my brother-in-law, who was several feet behind me, almost got hit with the egg, but couldn't stop laughing at the spectacle. my 2 yo nephew thoroughly enjoyed the parade, complete with handfuls of candy hurled our way. it was fun to watch him and my 10 yo cousin race across the drive way, collecting candy and giggling. i love the family get-togethers we have at the cabin. sunday held its own treat. luckily i didn't get struck in slow traffic on my way home, which afforded me enough time to run inside and change my clothes before heading out to meet friends for dinner. it was my first sushi experience. we went to martini blu in minneapolis and experienced an evening of culture and fantastic food. the seven of us enjoyed great conversation and laughs. i successfully ate with chopsticks for the first time in my life. all-in-all it was a 10+ of a weekend. what more could i ask for? good times with the family, time spent outdoors and golfing, and great friends and great food. fantastic!
the cherry-on-top to my great weekend was a lovely hello from my friends across the pond. i hope even my American friends living in other countries enjoyed America's birthday!