A Quiet 4th of July

It was a quiet day in the Heinisch Home this fourth of July.  Doug worked from home this morning.  Cameron and Meg went to McAllister's for lunch while I picked up from a busy weekend.  This afternoon Cameron and I watched the final episode of Stranger Things.  Meg joined us when she wasn't packing for her return trip to Chicago.  There were some really sad scenes this season and some confusing parts.  Overall, we liked the season, just wished for a different ending. 

Cameron went to Samuel's for a get together later in the day while we took Meg to the South Shore train.  It arrived right on time and soon she was heading back to the Windy City.  She said that she had really enjoyed her time at home, but was ready to return to the working world.  I was glad to hear that.  She's really enjoyed her internship so far.  The train ride was pretty quiet and she only had to walk a block and a half to her apartment from the train station.

I ordered pizza for Doug's birthday dinner.  We thought that it was going to rain, but thankfully it held off long enough to have a bonfire.  We also enjoyed some time on the front porch before finishing the evening with a movie.  We picked Rocky 4 as it was Rocky weekend on AMC.  Doug headed to bed before it was over.  I not only watched the ending, but had also started Balboa before Cameron got home.  We talked for quite awhile and ended up finishing that movie as well.  It was definitely one of the quietest fourths that we had ever had, but enjoyable none the same.  

Happy Early Birthday Doug!

Since Meg had to leave tomorrow for Chicago and Doug had to work, we decided to celebrate his 52nd birthday today.  We couldn't start until late in the afternoon as he wanted to finish cutting up the logs form the storm two weeks ago and move them into the lot.  He also had some yard work to finish as well.  That was ok with Meg and Cameron as Meg went to Hacienda with Nick and Cameron went to Planet Fitness with Samuel.  

We decided that the best way to celebrate with Doug was to play games, cookout and have a bonfire.  Doug did all of the cooking which was the way he preferred it.  He even made a carrot cake for dessert.  It was delicious.  Nick was the big loser on the night as earned the "L" in Chameleon, corn hole and Hearts.  My parents joined us for the gift giving.  Doug received some fantastic presents this year - PBR from Brett, his favorite snacks from Cameron, a Bulls shirt from Meg, and the Toys in the Attic vinyl from me.  My parents brought up a propane fire pit for him which he absolutely loved.  We ended the night by the bonfire.  Overall, it was a wonderful celebration and we all enjoyed the family time.  

Jaws

Our neighbor told us several weeks ago that he and his live-in girlfriend of thirteen years were going to get married today at their home in an outside wedding.  They were then going to have a reception at our other neighbor's house outside under a tent.  They wanted us to know as they thought that it would be really loud.  They had suggested that we might not want to be at home, but Doug and I both thought that it would be better if we were here.  We did tell the Heinisch children about it.  Cal decided to stay in Chicago and have friends up for the weekend.  Brett had to work, so it didn't really affect him.  Meg went to Nick's and Cameron headed to Samuel's.

In the end, the wedding wasn't too much louder than a normal Friday or Saturday night here.  The music wasn't quite our taste, but it didn't ruin the weekend.  We were able to pull out the projector and put Jaws on the big screen.  With our new speakers, we could barely hear their music.  We even called Cameron and let him know that it was ok to return home.  He made it back before we finished the movie.

Jaws has been our go to July 4th big screen movie for the past three years.  In fact, we had watched it on this night every night since 2020.  We didn't plan it that way.  It just seemed like the best way to spend July 2nd - a bonfire and Jaws.  The movie was just as good as it had been the past.  As many times as I have seen the movie, I'm always amazed at a new scene or something that I have forgotten from our past screenings.  

I didn't always love the movie, Jaws.  My parents took me to see it the summer it came out.  I was six years old and it absolutely terrified me.  I remember being scared not only of the ocean, but also the lake, the pool and even the bathtub.  I was positive that a shark was lurking in any body of water that I was near and I did everything possible to stay away from being submerged for any length of time.  Thankfully, I have outgrown my fear and now enjoy the movie for the pure entertainment of it.  It's the perfect July 4th movie and I hope it stays on our big screen watching agenda for years to come.   

A Full House

Doug was up earlier than he planned as he had a work call first thing in the morning.  He then worked from home today, thankfully finding time for a short nap in the late afternoon.  Cameron was home off and on today.  He met Keegan for golf in the afternoon at Black Squirrel, hung out at Samuel's and then stopped by home to change before meeting some of his friends at Linway to watch the Minion movie.  

Nick picked Meg up after work this afternoon.  They were here by 8 p.m.  We spent the rest of the evening catching up with them and then listening to all of Meg's music from her middle school days.  It was a lot of fun and I was thankful to have so much of our family in and out of the house today.  It was a great start to the holiday weekend.

An All Nighter - Almost

Doug spent the week working in Florida.  When he booked his flights, he decided to try flying home on Thursday night instead of Friday morning.  With all of the cancellations recently, he was skeptical that he would get out this evening, but after only a half hour delay on the tarmac at Orlando he was on his way to Indianapolis with the arrival time of 12:47 a.m.

Knowing that Doug really wanted to drive home tonight instead of staying in Indy, I decided to do my best to stay up until he got here.  I was up late last night watching Downton Abbey so that I could sleep in today.  I also came up with some projects that I could work on late this evening  to keep me busy when I got tired.  It really helped that Cameron came home tonight at 10 p.m. and wanted to play Euchre and also that my parents were ready for a late night activity as well.  That kept me busy until 11:30 p.m. 

Doug called when he got on I-465 to let me know that he was on his way home with the expected arrival time of 4 a.m.  He had slept on the plane, so he told me that I didn't have to stay up.  I really wanted to try, however, as I thought that would help if he needed some one to talk to on his drive.  Around 2 a.m. I wasn't sure that I would be able to stay awake, but after talking to Doug several times, watching a few Law & Orders and working on some of the projects that I had lined up it was soon 3:30.  By that time Doug was well past Sidney and thankfully had not been detoured by a stopped train.  He had stopped for a big pop at Casey's in Peru and had listened to Rocky 3 on the Rewatchables.  Both of those activities and our several phone calls made his trip home a lot easier.  I was more than happy to see him when he arrived.  He wasn't quite ready for bed, but I definitely was glad to say "Goodnight!"  

The Drive Home

Cameron, Brett and I all slept in this morning.  Brett said that he was still sore when he woke up.  I cut his hair once we got up and around, and then we played several rounds of Exploding Kittens.  That went better than Monopoly, although Brett and I never won a game.  Brett ran to get Doug's birthday gift afterward while Cameron and I packed the Pilot for the trip home.  

We all met at Big Woods for lunch.  It wasn't very crowded and we enjoyed a nice meal together.  We discussed several recent topics in the news while we waited for our food.  The sandwiches were delicious and Brett tried a few of their beers as well.

After lunch we headed to "Hoosier Putt Hole."  Cameron had challenged us all to a round of miniature golf.  He soon took the lead, but the match remained close between Brett and I.  Brett ended up beating me by one.  It was a lot of fun.

Cameron and I left from Ellettsville for home around 3 p.m.  Doug and I had decided to let Cameron drive.  We felt that he needed experience driving on I-465.  That way if he ever needed to travel on it on his own, he would have at least done it once.  I was impressed with how well he did.  Cameron's driven a lot this past year and he was more than capable of handling the four lane road.  The only down part of the trip was when Meg called to complain about Cameron getting to drive on 465 before she did.  We made her wait until she was 19.  Brett said that he was 20, so she had nothing to complain about.  I decided to stay out of the debate.  I was just very glad that Cameron had risen to the challenge and that we had arrived home safely.  

Holiday World

Brett and Cameron left this morning at 9 for the two hour drive to Holiday World.  They texted me multiple times throughout the day to let me know that they were having a lot of fun.  They also sent pictures from all four holiday themed lands.  They rode on multiple roller coasters and several intense spinning rides.  They even took a turn on a turkey shooting ride.  They both said that it was lame, but they enjoyed it just the same.  For lunch they had funnel cakes and fried Reese's.  Cameron said that he regretted that on the ride home.  They made it back to Bloomington close to 10 p.m.  They were exhausted, but made time to show me their souvenirs, before relaxing for the night.  Cameron was proud of his new bucket hat.  He and Brett also bought matching t-shirts.  Overall, it was a great day and I was extremely glad that they went.  I greeted them with breadsticks from Pizza X when they returned.  Cameron was happy for some "real food."

While Brett and Cameron were busy, I spent the day organizing Brett's bedroom.  He had asked me several times since December if I could help him.  I was glad that I finally had a day to do so.  Normally, he kept his door closed when we were visiting.  He had been using the room as a catch all for everything that he couldn't find a place for in the rest of the apartment.  It took me about seven hours, but I got it all done.  I reorganized the top of his dressers.  I changed up some of the drawers as well.  I also unloaded a few tubs and cleaned out the closet.  In the end it looked very nice.  I did take some time off to run errands and watch Wimbledon.  I even picked up KFC for lunch.  Overall, it was a great day to be in Bloomington.