boy, what a *busy* three-day weekend we had. i’ll be breaking everything into individual posts to prevent one *very* long post that would just bog you down!

we were up bright on and early on friday to meet my coworkers for breakfast at 6:15 a.m. it’s something we all do every year, and it’s a fun way to gear up for the parade, which my station cosponsors with the local breakfast optimist club.

the parade was a lot of fun and ran a lot more smoothly than last year. this year was heavily political, since we have a *big* primary election coming up next tuesday, but when you think about it, the freedom to vote and choose who we want to represent us is really what the 4th of july is all about. i thought it was appropriate that politicians were shaking hands and that their supporters were encouraging those along the parade route to vote.

my coworkers and i passed out flags and water bottles to parade watchers, as we did last year, and it was a lot of fun.

this year’s grand marshalls were veterans of all our country’s wars. they rode on a truck and in several other vehicles. one of the members of our kiwanis club was excited about participating in it.

after the parade, we headed home and met up with my brother, his girlfriend and her brother, who were driving up to my parents’ house from florida. they stopped by for a few hours, and randy and joe went for a three-mile run. the hill we live on just about killed randy on the way back. it kills me just walking up it. there’s no way i could run it.

after that, we had a cookout and just hung out watching tv until everyone except kristen fell asleep.

after a quick nap, we headed to atlanta for the braves game. one of joe’s coworkers had two extra tickets, and we were glad to take him up on his offer and get to know him and his fiancee better. it was a great game, and what made it even better was that the braves won after five straight losses!

the fireworks after the game were awesome. i’ve never seen fireworks at a baseball stadium before, and it was a lot of fun.

too bad i forgot my camera.