Fourth of July With Family in Pembroke Pines, FL.

Fourth of July Weekend, 2008

We decided to make it a mini vacation so we went to Pembroke Pines, FL, for the 4th of July Holiday on July 3rd to get a jump start on the festivities.
We arrived at my sister's house, unpacked, and were off to lunch at a great sushi restaurant called RA. (See restaurant review blog)
After lunch we went to the store and bought all of the goodies for the cook-out the following day and came home afterwards and started doing some of the prep work.

When we were done, we watched DVDs, while my sister Gricel prepared an incredible meatloaf inspired by Emeril Lugasi. We delayed dinner until 9:00 PM since we were all still pretty full from lunch.
After dinner, the three of us, settled down to play Scrabble for a couple of hours. We had a great time. Ken was the winner. We were up till 2 in the morning.

The next morning, the 4th of July, after breakfast, Ken made the hamburger patties using a mixture of ground beef, Lipton's Onion Soup, bread crumbs, sour cream and spices and readied them for the grill later in the day. We steamed the hot dogs in beer and made the filling for the empanadas I had promised my niece Gisele 18 months ago.

Everything was prepped before the party-goers started to arrive at about three o'clock;
My mom and her husband, My sister's husband Fernando's brother and his wife and their mother, and Joe and Marta and their two kids. Just enough people to make it a party without it being too big.

The hamburgers were a huge hit. They were delicious.
We also had hot dogs, potato and macaroni salad, cole slaw, grilled shrimp, and assorted chips and dips. There was plenty of food and no one left hungry.
After we ate, we played dominoes under the protection of the covered patio since it rained all late afternoon and evening. We played cut-throat dominoes because there were 8 of us playing. Fernando's brother's wife won the afternoon at dominoes. It was a very fun time.
We helped with the clean up and then went across the street to Joe's and Marta's place, which overlooked a lake, to watch the municipal and private firework displays. Luckily the rains let up at about 10 PM so the fireworks show, although delayed, went off as planned.
The fireworks were beautiful and spectacular.
Afterwards we came back to my sister's and played Scrabble again. Ken again, emerged victorious. We were up again way past our bedtime.

Saturday morning we had my sister to ourselves. Fernando went to the Florida Keys to fish, and Gisele was sleeping late from having worked the late shift at RA.
We went to see Hancock with Will Smith. ( Please see movie review Blog).
It was a nice time at the movies.
After Hancock, we went shopping for shorts that I wanted. We traveled to do different locations of the Bass Pro Shoppes to find what we needed. Luckily the threatening skies, cooperated and we had good weather all afternoon while we were driving around town.

We noticed that gas was 25 cents more a gallon in south Florida than it was in Orlando. I wonder why that is?

After we were done, we came home where my mother was preparing a delicious pork roast, rice with black beans, fried plantains and a salad. While dinner was cooking we got cleaned up and watched DVDs until Fernando got home from fishing at about 8 PM. By that time dinner was ready and we had a feast.
After dinner we decided to sit back and relax watching movies. Ken and I went to the nearby Blockbuster picked up a few DVDs, then picked up a bag of ice, and went back.
We had a nice time watching a couple of tittles. We went to bed around 1:30 AM. (See movie review Blog)

Sunday morning after breakfast, my sister took us to buy a plant for my aunt who is ill, and then gave us a tour of the campus my niece will be attending in the fall of Nova Southeast University. We then stopped off at the pet store to buy some food and treats for Luke and Napoleon.
When we got back home, I made the empanadas for Gisele and we all had one each as a sample.
Later that afternoon, we got ready for a fish-fry with Snapper that Fernando had caught the day before. We had Joe and Marta and my mom and her husband over for this feast.
We ate the leftover salads from Friday and everyone seemed thoroughly satisfied.
After the company left, we gathered to play the board game, Settlers of Catan with my sister and my niece. It was a fun time and I finally won a game we had played thus far this weekend.
Afterwards we played another game of Scrabble which Gisele declined to participate in and we played for a couple of hours. Again, Ken emerged victorious. He plays Scrabble very well.
We went to bed near 2 AM again.

The next morning we had a couple of ham sandwiches, with the missing ham, which was no longer missing obviously and got ready to head home back to Orlando.
We stopped off for groceries and went home to make dinner.
We had an excellent meal with sauteed steak with garlic and onions, rice and home made black beans. Dinner was delicious.
That wrapped up our Fourth of July Holiday for 2008. We had a very nice time and look forward to our next getaway so we can share those experiences with you.
Thank you for reading our Blog.
Ken and Len