Happy Independence Day!

My family has a reunion in Kansas this weekend. As I'm not going to be there and am now engaged, they were asking for pictures. So, Saturday, Jesse, Jer, and I headed out and got a few pictures taken. I meant to get them in the mail on Monday, but missed that. Since yesterday was a holiday, I'll get them in the mail today and hope they make it.

With Independence Day this week, Jesse and I are getting a bit of extra time together. So sweet, after all the travel earlier in the summer.

Sunday evening, we made it to Shenandoah University's performance of 42nd street. A musical that is song-and-dance heavy. Most of the dance is tap--close enough to clogging that it made it fun for us to watch and think about the challenges that went into the choreography and performances.

Monday evening was a clogging performance in Lovettsville for their celebrations. The performance went well. We both had a couple of songs that we performed for the first time. That always adds a notch of anticipation and energy to a performance. The evening was on the warm side, but very comfortable--as long as you weren't doing much. Clogging was hot with very little breeze. After our performance, they had a limbo contest and a hoola-hoop contest. Jesse was the runner-up in the hoola-hoop contest against teens! About 9:30, they shot off their fireworks display. We found a place with some of the other cloggers for a good advantage point for the display.

Tuesday, we had a clogging performance at 1:00 for the Pride of Purcellville celebration. That was a very hot performance. Fortunately, we had shade. But after the performance, it was home to recover in the AC and ended up taking a nap.

In the evening, Jesse and I headed over to Franklin Park to catch the community fireworks there. By the time we arrived, it was definitely getting dark. We knew that our pastor and his family were there, but we didn't know where they were in all the crowds. So, we gave a guess and started walking. While we were searching, we encountered a PHC/clogging family and stopped to chat for a few minutes. Very enjoyable, but made it that much darker as we continued our search for the pastor's family. By some coincidence or miracle, we did find them as we were wandering through the crowds. We enjoyed another good fireworks display and some good conversation as we waited with the family for the traffic to clear out after the display.

Tonight, the usual Wednesday evening church activities have been canceled. Jesse and I expect to have another evening together to just relax and enjoy the time.