Stars and Stripes

It was fun to read about everyone’s Fourth of July weekend festivities.  My Fourth of July weekend turned out to be a very busy, jam-packed weekend. 

We kicked off the weekend on Saturday at our house.  My family came down from Texarkana Dad’s new truck.  For those that do not know, my family was in a car accident over Easter weekend in Tyler.  Someone rear-ended my dad which caused him to hit the car in front of him.  The truck was deemed totaled from the front and back.  My parents were in the front, and my sister and brother were in the back.  Needless to say, my family was OK as they came out with only a few bumps and bruises.  Mark and I had to go pick them up from Palestine.   My dad has been driving around a rental car up until last week.  After “oohing and awing” over Dad’s new truck (he got a sweet deal), we headed out to the pool.  Jessica brought her new dog so we were able to get to know him a little (he is a Chihuahua Terrier mix…name is tbd).   

Later that evening, we cleaned up then headed to my favorite restaurant, Campisi’s, to celebrate my birthday and Father’s Day (I'll do another post on my birthday festivities soon).  Campisi’s has been in the family for a long time.  My dad grew up going there with his brothers, cousins, and uncles (when living in Palestine, once a year, they would hire a limo to take them from Palestine to Dallas while getting tanked, then they would eat at Campisi’s and go to a Cowboys game).  My parents continued the tradition by taking us kids to Campisi’s every time we would come to Dallas for a weekend trip.  Now that I live here, I like to say that I continue the Campisi’s tradition as we have celebrated many events there from birthdays to girl’s night to family get-togethers.  I was extremely bummed when I found out I couldn’t have my rehearsal dinner there, but I am still fortunate we were able to get Campisi’s to cater my bachelorette party.  My favorite (and only) pizza I order from there is Italian Salami and Mushrooms.  Many places try to duplicate the pizza, but they never have that one topping that sets Campisi’s apart – Italian Salami.  Anyway, enough about Campisi’s and on to the pictures!

After dinner, we headed back to my house to open a few family gifts.  My dad is hard to buy clothes for as he wears a 2X or 3X (big and tall).  I ran across two sweater vests in the clearance section at Old Navy that happened to be returned from someone that bought them special order online.  They were a 2X big and tall.  SCORE!!  My parents got Mark and I a joint birthday gift of a large picture of The Last Supper to put in our dining room (we get to pick it out).  To tie us over until we pick it out, I also got a few pieces of my Arthur Court Grape kitchenware (salt and pepper shakers and a frame). 

Sunday, my parents went to Palestine and Mark and I headed out to Lake Ray Hubbard with our friends, Alex and Andrew.  We were invited out by Scott and Dana Buckner as they have a boat that we frequent on the weekends.  Scott’s brother and sister-in-law, Gary and Natalie, also have a boat.  The beauty of their boat is that Gary rigged up a grill on the boat so we the guys are able to prepare food while we are hanging out in the lake.  The evening was supposed to end in fireworks, but for some reason, we either missed the show or weren’t able to see it or maybe it just didn’t happen!  Nonetheless, it was a nice day out on the lake with friends.

Monday, Mark had to work half of the day while I stayed home and did a few things around the house.  That afternoon, Mark was able to get my family and I tickets to the Rangers Game in the Napoleon Suite along with his boss and his family.  It just so happened that my aunt Gina from Chicago was also in town so her and my other aunt, Meems, joined us.  It was definitely a family affair.  We were spoiled of course by all of the food in the suite, and we were very fortunate to get our fireworks fix at the end of the game (and the Rangers won 13 to 4 to top things off).

That was my 4th of July weekend in a nut shell.