People were kinda surprised when I said that Nebraska was my first stop of my world travels...
but the truth is that I've got some awesome friends there and made some new ones this visit. Plus my travels are not just about scenery or exotic places. Seeing Jen and Lateef's life, including their young kids Ivy and Scout, and their extended family which they moved back to Nebraska to be around, meant a lot to me.
Nebraska is also a place where they know how to do the 4th of July right. Jen's niece Faithe's husband Ryan lives in a neighborhood where they have BBQ, a mega water balloon fight and fireworks. Everyone decks out their yards with red, white and blue. Someone even pulled off patriotic jello.
The water balloon preparation starts early in the morning with several filling operations like this one:
In the late afternoon, with dozens of people on each side of a cul-de-sac and a thousands of water balloons, the battle begins. Here's Jen firing one round:
Last was Ryan's fireworks. He spent since Christmas prepping for his show which included a few thousand artillery shells.
They used 6 blow torches to set them off on the same street where we'd had the water balloon fight.
I also got a tour of Jen's dad Spike's apartment, flush with Nebraska Corn Huskers paraphernalia and pictures of his family.
We spent evenings at the fire pit drinking some beers and talkin' shit. They threw in an Arkansas fire log. I guess their neighbor learned how to make this from some guy camping in South Dakota. Basically you take a copper pipe, drill some holes in it, and fill it with garden hose (the cheaper ones are better). Probably not something you'd want to do around the kids, or when sitting down-wind.
1 comment:
I can't decide which is cooler, the patriotic jello or the Arkansas log. Each a real testimony to man's ingenuity. While the log has the obvious advantage of involving fire, I'm sure the EPA would object to that becoming an Independence Day standard -- I guess as soon as you take the man out of SF, there's not much SF left in the man.
Also: Ivy is beautiful! Haven't seen her since she was Scout's size. The kids look great, and we hope Jen and Lateef are happy to be back at home in Nebraska.
Post a Comment