Fun and Frolics on the Fourth

Let me just start by saying that I love community events with that "small town" feel. Show me a farmer's market, an arts and crafts fair, a local sporting event, or a firehouse pancake breakfast, and I am tickled pink. This is even the case with county or state fairs, because even though they're much larger (and for some reason overrun with hot tub sales booths and seriously lacking in homemade baked goods), there's still something very nostalgic and Rockwellian about them. So, naturally, when Tim and I received a flyer for the annual "Historic Highlands" Fourth of July parade and party, I became downright giddy. (Historic Highlands is the lovely neighborhood of which we live on the fringes, unfortunately next to the Napa and the gas station.)

So, we started our July 4th festivities with a trip to this neighborhood event, a bowl of Muddy Buddies in hand and our picnic chairs over our shoulders. We found a shady spot and hunkered down to admire (along with several other onlookers) a Star Wars X-Wing replica wagon, which had been brilliantly constructed by a neighbor named Clay who, we later learned, was the second unit director of 300 and a former Art Center student (he's wearing the camo shorts):




Coolest mini-float EVER. His son had a really fun time getting pushed around in the X-Wing, but he voiced his concern a couple of times that the Star Wars music emanating from the vehicle was too loud, haha.

As it turned out, the annual Historic Highlands Fourth of July parade is THE shortest parade in the WORLD. It started at about 11:35 and finished at 11:38. It mainly consisted of a bunch of kids on sparkly red, white, and blue bicycles speeding by, along with a bunch of parents with little kids (or dogs) in cute patriotic clothing, and a few cool mini-floats like the X-Wing. (One kid was getting pushed around in a little pirate ship; he had, for some reason, chosen a black ghost costume with a pirate hat and a Darth Vader mask for his patriotic attire.) The morning concluded with a large lunch spread of hot dogs and dozens of yummy potluck items. It was good times! I love community events.

After the awesome neighborhood fun, we headed back home for some Twilight Zone on SciFi, and then left in the mid-afternoon for Takob's (Tak & Jacob's) BBQ/pool party at her folks' home in Yorba Linda. We played in the pool (one of us even went down the waterslide, but I won't say who), ate lots of guacamole (oh, and Tak's dad makes a wicked awesome cheeseburger), and chatted a whole bunch. I enjoyed playing with their mostly-blind-and-deaf dog Sassy, and also cuddling with Sassy's friend Buster (who guarded the slide and barked at people who went down it). Thanks Tak, we had a jolly good time!



By the way, here are some other pictures of us with Takob from when we found Nemo at Disneyland a few weeks ago. They're fun and crazy like us.

In other news, Tim has been ridiculously busy with schoolwork. His Third Term Review took place on Tuesday of this week, for which he had to prepare a collection of his most recent work to display at school for review by professors. Naturally, this is an extremely stressful process, because basically they come back with critiques on one's progress, and indicate whether or not one should remain at Art Center. Goo. So, here is some of Tim's recent work, along with his buddy Stanley that he's been working on for quite awhile: