The Daily Biff - July 4th Party at the Bells

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Wed, 04 Jul 2007

July 4th Party at the Bells
Last Fall the City of Sammamish announced that they would be performing a fireworks show on Independence Day 2007. I can't give them too much credit for doing so, since they banned home fireworks within city limits starting last year... so we had to journey over to Bellevue to watch a fireworks show. Despite having a great time watching the fireworks, we had to fight the Bellevue traffic and the crowds. It was mildly annoying. So anyway... as soon as I heard that the City was going to run a fireworks show, I contacted Jana and Daurell and invited myself over for July 4th (which back then was about 10 months into the future). The Bells live very close to Sammamish City Hall and would (I figured) have an excellent view of the show, without having to deal with the crowds. The Bells typically leave town for the 4th anyway, so it was not going to be an imposition (or so I rationalized).

The Bells did not end up leaving town, so the Sorenson clan crashed at their place while they were there. They were happy to oblige. Some other friends (the Allen family, some members of the Vikari family, and the Quintons) joined us as well. Kristy and I arranged the menu and coordinated with the Bells to provide food for the affair. I prepared 6 racks of ribs (Bertha style). Kristy and I baked two large cakes. And between the four Sorenson families we also brought along chips, salads, and drinks for all in our clan and enough for the rest of the party guests as well. The Bells also pulled out all the stops, so there was no shortage of goodies to eat.

Kristy and I had kind of a "bake off" with our cakes. I prepared a layered lemon cake while Kristy prepared a layered chocolate hazelnut cake. I didn't try Kristy's cake (since I recently discovered I'm allergic to hazelnuts), but my cake was excellent. Both cakes were cut into quite heavily. I'd probably have to admit that a little more of my cake came back home than Kristy's. So I guess she won the bake off.

The Bell home is an ideal place for a party. They have a large back yard that includes a tree house, a rope swing, a fire pit, a hot tub, a trampoline, and a small hill ideally suited for a slip-n-slide. The kids had a blast running from one play activity to the next. We had a very good dinner and dessert. See here for pictures taken throughout the day (I should have taken pictures of the cakes!).

After dinner, the kids watched movies and played in the hot tub while we waited for 10:15pm to roll around and the fireworks show to start. It was a very good show and lasted for half an hour. The kids loved it.

:: Posted by rus on Wed, 04 Jul 2007 11:59 pm
:: Filed under /daily_journal/2007

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