After we celebrated our first year of marriage, Andrew and I celebrated our (technically second) first Funth of July. At the time, Andrew was working full-time AND had a part time morning job, mowing golf greens at 4am, and I was teaching a morning class, a night class, and tutoring during the day. Needless to say, we didn't see each other much that summer (at night, I watched all 7 seasons of Gilmore girls, borrowed on DVD from my mom. This is all I really remember from Summer '08). However, we did get one official vacation day together to go crazy. We didn't have any money (hence Andrew's second job) but we did have some creativity, so we did all sorts of free-ish things and called it the Funth of July - we cooked out, made desserts, took a bike ride on the path near our house, maybe we went to a baseball game? I can't remember. There are some photos, but what has lived longest in our hearts is a simple fondness for the Funth.
For the last couple of years, we have used the day off to go visit Andrew's family in Springfield, which is certainly a Funth as well. However, since we have been back home twice during the month of June (we typically visit about 3 times a year, so we feel very familiar right now with the road home), we are staunchly staying put at home for the Funth for the first time in recent memory -- oh wait, there was last year, when we used the day off to put in a new paver patio. No wonder I don't remember that!
This year, it's all Funth -Andrew's brother and friend are visiting us for the Blues Festival that is in town over the weekend, Andrew and I are meeting up with some friends on the 3rd for Fireworks and Baseball, and we invited the whole gang over for a cookout at our house, now that we have a lovely new fenced in yard (and a lot more sunshine, as the huge overhanging tree next door is in the process of coming down).
We've been working at our menu - I've scoured Pinterest for cute 4th-themed appetizers, and I bought a ton of lemons for some homemade lemonade. We're having brats, dogs, corn on the cob, cole slaw, watermelon - oh you know, all the best stuff for the 4th! But also trying to have little gourmet twists - seasoned butter for the corn, a tomato/watermelon/basil salad, flavored brats, since all of our guests are kinda on the foodie side.
And our to-do for the next couple of days is pretty long. Since we've been out of town for most of June, we are losing a war against cat-fur inside. It has taken over every surface of our house. Our outdoors has gotten a bit overgrown, and we have a bunch of mulch patiently waiting for us to spread and make my flower garden look presentable. I want to add a second height of pavers to the garden as well.
Food to make, a yard to tame, a house to clean, a celebration to have -- but the fun of sharing the funth with friends is totally worth it.
