Rain, Rain... Fine you can stay

As much as I normally hate the rain, it's OK because I'm on vacation. A rainy day on vacation means you get to sleep in, wear sweats around the house, go shopping even when you have the most beautiful things outside to see, and do puzzles and eat bad food.

Fortunately we were able to get four solid hours in at Six Flags Great Escape - plenty of time for my dad and I to ride the only three roller coasters (out of a usual six) that were running today, including one kiddie coaster where my dad thought it was slow enough for a hat. Well, rest in peace Florida Gators baseball cap. It fell off on the ride and we made completely inappropriate jokes about climbing over fences to get a baseball hat and then possibly being decapitated (see Teen decapitated by rollercoaster if you don't know what I'm talking about). I know, wrong. But we laughed anyways.

It started to pour around 2pm so we headed back to the car. On the way home, my dad stopped so I could take a picture of this lady's yard in town, where she has a yellow flag for each US soldier that has been killed in Iraq. Today's running total is 4,114. It makes me really sad to see that number but I am glad she is making such a beautiful display to honor them. I find it very appropriate on the eve of the Fourth of July. Thanks to soldiers from nearly 300 years ago until today, I live the privileged life of an American. While some may question how what the US military is doing in Iraq and Afghanistan and everywhere else overseas affects us at home, I find it irrelevant. Someone has to do it and it sure as hell isn't me, so I am thankful every day for what Andrew and all the other soldiers have done and continue to do. I just hope they all come home, safely and soon.

On that note, time to go heat up my leftovers. I bought a bottle of local strawberry white zinfandel and a block of local extra sharp cheddar cheese for Juls and I to share when she got here, but now it looks like she isn't coming. Something about her brakes and Justin said he will drive her but he doesn't want to drive three hours then turn around and drive three hours home. Well unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, he is not welcome here. So I guess it's just me, dad and the dogs this weekend! I was looking forward to having her here, A. because we never get to spend time together since we live 1000 miles apart and B. because my dad doesn't talk much, but oh well. Now we are stuck with a $15 one-day fishing license. Julia's name is on it but I bet we could pawn it off to some girl at the beach who wants to pretend to be from Boston for a day!