getting away for the 4th

Yesterday was delightful.

We woke up and had cold cereal. I started our BBQ in the oven at 10:30 AM. We took BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, chips, and graham cracker squares decorated to look like American flags to a picnic lunch with some friends. It was delightful and the kids played happily on the play set.

The idiots around where we live started shooting off their fireworks by 9 AM. Nap time was cut short, but luckily there was a nap nonetheless.

Then we packed up. We headed to a hotel barely 4 miles from our house. We checked in, jumped on the beds, hit the indoor pool, got the kids baths, ate Papa John's pizza and breadsticks, made microwave s'mores, and fell asleep in a dark, quiet, cool room by 9:30 PM. IT WAS AWESOME. Shane and I had our respective electronic devices to read and entertain ourselves until we wanted shut eye after the kids quieted down.

All night long, war raged outside the windows of our unincorporated Snohomish County house but we weren't there to hear it. AWESOME.

In fact, we KNEW our neighbors were having a party, since they mowed their lawn, set up a canopy in the backyard, and had the grill and patio set all out. I didn't want to be here. At all.

We heard some fireworks from the hotel, barely-in-the-distance fireworks, really. They were hardly noticeable and the kids slept soundly. Also, the hotel was near the airport, Paine Field, and someone teased me that I'd hear airplane traffic all night. Well, I didn't hear a single airplane after 5 PM. Definitely none of the big Boeing ones. Maybe they all got the 4th off?

When we returned home this morning (after a splendid breakfast and another dip in the pool), the carnage in the 1-mile radius around our house was awful. Firework debris everywhere. And we missed it! We missed it all! YAY!!!!!!!!

I imagine when our kids are older maybe this will be fun, but right now, it's not fun. Laurel is a light sleeper. Wesley thinks fireworks are terrifying. Shane had to work this morning. (Solution? We drove 2 cars to the hotel. His commute today was literally 2 minutes.)

Best $122 I EVER SPENT. EVER. We will probably do it next year.