Happy wild and wet 4th!

The day started out beautiful. Sun shining. A day of possibilities.

What should we do?
Where should we celebrate this year? Michael (DH) and I spent quite a bit of time this morning going back and forth over those very questions. I eventually left the ultimate decision for him to make. He really seemed to care more than I did about it, so it seemed logical for him to take charge this time.

After several hours of going over the many options we had to choose from, Michael made his choice. We all showered and got dressed. Then I had to gather up picnic stuff and tons of other supplies we might need. It took me f-o-r-e-v-e-r to get everything in the car. We hit Bojangles for lunch. We rarely eat there but for some odd reason fried chicken sounded GREAT today. After we devoured the chicken, we grabbed some drinks & ice at the grocery store. That was the last thing on our prep list, so our little van hit the road headed for fun!

Of course during the ride we noticed the menacing clouds that seemed to chase us down the road. Michael and I had hoped that they were going to just blow on by, so we paid our $5 parking fee and rushed out of the car for a tour of the area.

Michael had decided on a lovely outdoorsy place that would entertain us with live Bluegrass music, walking trails, various outdoor family activities and they would set off fireworks at dark. It was perfect. We could spread out a blanket, eat a picnic dinner and watch the fireworks dance in the sky!

We weren't there 20 minutes before the skies opened up. I'm certain that it was a storm that should have been classified as a typhoon. Thunder and lightning. High winds. Buckets of rain coming down. It was awful.

We ran to the closest shelter, once the downfall started, and enjoyed hours of hanging out with other cold & dripping wet strangers. During our third hour the rain slowed slightly, so we decided to make a break for the larger building nearby that housed the restaurant and shop. As we were sprinting, the rain picked up again. Rivers of water poured down our bodies and the stairs as we climbed them.

We got SOAKED.

The kids whined about being cold and my glasses were so wet that I couldn't see through them. We headed into the gift shop to see about purchasing a towel to dry off on. OMG let me tell you that the towel was WAY overpriced.

Needless to say, we stayed cold and wet. lol

We decided to check out the restaurant but it was so packed with people that getting a table before closing was highly unlikely. While trying to decide our next plan of action, an employee nearby announced that the fireworks were delayed until tomorrow night. The kids cried but our decision was made for us.

We hit the restrooms, then braved the rain one more time.