Beach, Swimming, and other Fun Things- Saturday, July 4, 2015

Happy July 4th to all!!  We arrived at  Santa Monica Beach at 7:45 AM.  The girls played at the beach and swam for about an hour.  After the beach, we walked on the pier and looked at the shops.  Then we drove to Griffith's Park Observatory.  It was crowded so we were only able to get out for 10 minutes and take pictures.  Emma then declared she was hungry, so we found a Carl's Jr. and had chicken and tacos.  Then we headed back to the pool at the hotel for some swimming.  The girls wanted some down time before we went shopping at Knotts Berry Farms.  After going shopping we had dinner in Buena Park at the Pirate's Dinner Adventure show.  Anna was the cheerleader for the pirate on the orange team and even threw bean bags to him in the challenge.  We had a terrific time and felt it was better than Medieval Times.  We then headed to the hotel. which was 9:00 PM and all fell a sleep watching TV.

Scott's note: Even though I've been home alone all week, it's been very, very busy at Fort Niagara.  From Monday through Thursday, I've been wearing my 1812 uniform, doing "musket demonstrations" and re-learning a lot.  On Friday, they had me wearing regular clothes (and a bright green-yellow vest) to help with crowd control.  It's the start of the French and Indian War weekend and the busiest weekend of the year for the fort.   I was able to give a Rush the Growler CD to Joey Hall of Father, Son and Friends.  I told him he was a big influence on us and he apologized.  He seemed pleased though.  Last night I came home and changed, but then went back to the fort to set up a camp and hopefully hear some music.  (There wasn't much except in the "Tavern" by the Officer's Club, but it was too crowded and noisy to enjoy.)  This morning, Matt and I played at the Colden Farmer's Market.  We survived it, but the mandolin did not.  It fell off of the stand and it cracked in two.  It's a pretty clean break, though, so I think it can be fixed.  I was exhausted by this afternoon and had to take a nap.  I went back to this fort this night, though and had a better seat for the Tavern music by Step in Time and found Joey Hall singing and telling stories in the camp afterwards.   The dogs miss the girls so very much.   Noodles has been OK, but Schnitzel is depressed and has spent most of the time on Anna's bed.