After visiting Lone Star Park briefly, we headed across the parking lot to QuikTrip Park to watch the Grand Prairie Air Hogs play some minor league ball. What a great way to celebrate Independence Day! Here is the color guard:
Ceremonial first pitch:
Game time! My hubby picked some great seats just in front of the away teams (the Wichita Wing Nuts) dugout.
The boys having a great time:
The hot dog, chef, and taco race. My oldest son later said, "That was one mean hot dog".
After the game was over, everyone emptied the stands and made their way to the outfield.
Fireworks were set to start at 9:30, but due to some issues across the way at Lone Star Park with the horses, they didn't get started until10:15, so we enjoyed each others company, and did some people watching.
The boys like to keep a distance from each other.
The grass was nice-no bugs!
Just waiting...
...and relaxing...
But what a spectacular show!
It was a fun evening, and we enjoyed a full 20 minutes of fireworks. Glad I have the day off work today so I could sleep in!
A while back, my hubby received some free General Admission tickets to Lone Star Park-the horse racing track in Grand Prairie. I had heard that Lone Star Park has some of the best fireworks in the metroplex, so it seemed liked the best time to use the tickets would be the 4th of July for their Lone Stars and Stripes Celebration. We got there right at 5:00, just as the first race had started-we saw the horses cross the finish line just as we were walking towards some seats.
Maybe I should preface all this by saying I know nothing about horse racing. Shy of what I have seen on the movie Secretariat, I am completely clueless. Anyhow, we walked past the grassy section where many people had lawn chairs set up, and found some outdoor seating that was shaded (wonderful since it was probably 100 degrees) and right in front of the finish line. Don't the boys look like they were having fun?
While we waited for the next race, we sent the boys to get some programs, so we would have an idea of what we were looking at. Some really tall people sat down right in front of us, so my hubby suggested we move forward a few rows so we would still be able to see the races. Once we moved, a park employee came and asked us for our tickets. Apparently General Admission does not allow for seating at all. Oops! Rookie mistake, I am sure! I guess that's why there were so many people with lawn chairs. After realizing that the fireworks were not starting for another 4 hours, and the only "seating" available to us was in direct sunlight and sitting on the grass, we decided that we would leave Lone Star Park, and walk directly across the parking lot (no need to even move our car), and watch an Air Hogs baseball game instead. We will come back sometime, but better educated about what to expect!
Before leaving the park, we did watch a complete horse race. Here are the horses parading the front area before the race:
This is right after the race began. If you look very closely, you can see the horses by the rear fenceline, just to the right of the cedar tree in the center of the picture.
In this pic, the horses are rounding the corner-they look like little dots from this far away.
And here is the winner of the second heat, Dot to Dot, shortly before reaching the finish line. Commanding lead-you can't even see any of the other horses in this picture.
And there go the rest of the horses chasing Dot to Dot.
A month ago, I finally got our pictures hung in the living room. Ever since then, I have been thinking about what else to add to the decor to complete the beach look. Last night, we went to the store to browse, and I came across a few things. I ended up buying 2 pieces to hang on the wall. More on those later-after I get them hung-I can't seem to find any nails at the moment.
While looking through the beach-themed decorations, I saw a few that looked simple enough to make myself, so I took a picture of each of them to remind me what to do later. The first was the wine bottle with seashells and twine. I brought home seashells from Galveston, so I have a ton of those. We have 2 wine bottles at the house that currently have wine in them, and since we don't drink-just cook with wine-it will be a while before I have one ready. I'll need to pick up some twine, too.
The second idea looked really simple-a canning jar with sand, seashells, and twine. For this project all I needed was sand and twine.
Tonight while we were walking around World Market, we saw their beach decorations, and they just happened to have a small bag of sand which was tied shut with twine. I promptly bought it, and came home and made my own jar. You can't see it in the picture, but there is also a small piece of driftwood that I added to the jar. It was a simple, neat project!
Driving home from Arlington tonight, and we saw 3 separate fireworks shows from various cities. Since when did cities start doing their shows the day before the holiday? It seemed so odd! Here's a blurry picture of the fireworks, but we enjoyed what we saw!
About a month ago, my hubby's truck broke down. Thankfully, it was a relatively quick and easy fix. Unfortunately, it is acting up again. We had already decided that it is time to sell it and replace it with something new, but this just seals the deal.
Tonight we went car shopping to figure out what to get-something with a tow package is a requirement. Look what we found! Doesn't my hubby look thrilled? I am sure we are delaying the inevitable, but we walked away without signing any papers tonight. We are not looking forward to a car payment again (maybe we can save the money first and not have to deal with payments?), but we desperately need something that is reliable.
He just fits in this Jeep, doesn't he?
Today I wanted some barbecue. Really bad. So I googled barbecue in Midlothian, and I came up with a few locations. Ellis County Barbecue was the first one listed, so we stopped in there. It was not your typical barbecue joint. And by typical I mean walk through the line, have them slice your meat(s) of choice onto your place, and select your sides. Here, you were actually seated at a table, and the waitress came to get your drink order, and you looked over the menu while you waited. Not that this was a bad thing. I ordered a briskit sandwich with a side of okra. The briskit was great! My rule for thinking briskit is great is this: can it stand alone without barbecue sauce? Yes, I want barbecue sauce on my briskit, but the few bites I taste that don't have any on it should still be full of flavor. And it passed the test! Will I go back? Probably, if I am ever in Midlothian craving barbecue. Would I make a special trip to Midlothian just for the barbecue? Probably not.
Did I say 4 Layer Dip? Isn't it 7 Layer Dip? Well, yes, actually, that is what it is supposed to be. But my hubby doesn't care for guacamole, and I don't care for olives. So that is 2 layers gone. And I couldn't remember what the other layer was supposed to be while I was at the store. Turns out it was green onion. Oh, well. Just the 4 layers tasted pretty good-refried beans, sour cream, salsa, and shredded cheese. This was the only thing I accomplished yesterday. I was in camp recovery mode. I barely left my recliner. In fact, I think I took 3 naps. Perfect food for camp recovery day!
