Food, fun, fireworks, and fire

It's been a long day, but a fun one. I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast this morning (mmmm). This was the first time I'd made these particular ones, and they were met with unanimous approval. Emily told me not to bother to get any other kind (we usually get the Pillsbury rolls in the tube).

After breakfast, Emily and I made a trip to the BX and commissary, then came home to finish preparations for our afternoon cookout. I made the last yogurt pie and the cherry dump cake. Then Emily helped me get the patio furniture situated in the right place and the umbrella set up.

Our guests started arriving shortly after 2pm. Everyone seemed to have a good time; there was no shortage of conversation. The kids all hit it off. One of the families had kids all around the same ages of my 3 youngest, plus they homeschool as well... so that was very cool. Brian's partner brought a cake that was delicious; it was called a "Paul Newman" cake. A Google search confirmed that it is pretty much the same thing as the "Better than S3x" cake. Some versions actually call it the "Better than Paul Newman" cake. Folks started clearing out around 5:15 or so. I have a TON of leftovers... who wants to come help us eat them?

We headed over to Vacaville later to see the fireworks. I had an email from someone in a local homeschool group about a good place from which to view them, so we headed there and met up with her and her family. Brian got to chat quite a bit with her husband about their church in Vacaville.

On the way home, we noticed a grass fire up on the hills surrounding our neighborhood. We passed firetrucks heading past us to go put it out. We can see the fire from the house, even. I just took a look out the window and it is still burning. Ah, the dangers of fireworks in California in the summer! (But I really do like the smell of burning grass....)

Back to a somewhat more normal routine tomorrow!