Happy 4th of July!

I feel like I have to chronicle everything nowadays since any day could be "The day you were born..." You know? But this was a holiday, and worth documenting, anyway :) (It may look just plain odd when I'm taking pictures while shopping at Babies R Us tomorrow!)


We cheered on the Greensboro Grasshoppers when the played the Hickory Crawdads (I couldn't make those names up.)  on Saturday night with our friends Brittany, Scott, and their son Camden. The team will be out-of-town during 4th of July, so this was their 4th celebration night.

I feel like minor league (if this even qualifies as minor league) baseball is a sport all it's own. It's more entertainment than substance, because they know it takes more than a thrilling sports experience to keep people coming back. Because it's almost guaranteed to not be a thrilling sports experience, although we did see a bat get thrown into the stands!

It was so hot to be outside for four hours that I was cheering when the digital temperature sign went down a degree, and forgot to watch the actual game a few times! But you really can't beat a baseball game for the 4th, right? As Brittany said, "What's more American than this?!" me: "Maybe if we were eating cherry pie at the same time."

On the actual 4th of July Ben happen to be working at home and heard about an all-day festival downtown. We scurried over for a couple hours over lunch time. What the boss doesn't know won't hurt, right? ;)

We are festival fanatics, and were really impressed with the show Greensboro put on for the 4th! Downtown Greensboro is really artsy, anyway (statues and art everywhere, multiple parks, lots of museums and art centers...), and it all came together for this festival.  There were musicians and bands stationed in three different parks around a few blocks of downtown and many local craft vendors, fair food stands, and activity tents lining both sides of many streets. 

There was even a food stand selling elote! You bought the steamed corn then added whatever combo of toppings you wanted. I chose mayo, parmesan, chili powder, lime, and salt. Sure, that sounds disgusting, but it's the same combo you'll find on South American streets! It has been a couple years since I've had authentic street elote, but I've been craving it for a while and this did the trick! 

We walked down to our favorite local bakery, L.O.A.F. (local, organic, affordable, fresh),  and were so disappointed that it was closed! I am addicted to their chocolate croissants, and Ben loves their artisan breads. A man was outside the door and heard our cries and asked why we'd stopped by. He happen to be one of the owners and invited us into the back and loaded us up with free day-old bread loafs! He said the pastries had been cleaned out the day before, and that the organizations that typically pick up the unsold bread hadn't come by yesterday so he had nothing to do with the leftover bread, anyway.

We left with 6 loaves of 5 varieties. They are amazing. Not only is this bakery incredibly delicious, but thanks to the kindness and integrity of their owner we are definitely lifelong customers! (As long as we live in Greensboro, anyway. Or as long as they stay in business.)

Before we left Ben mentioned that we might find something for The Boy while we were out. Well, we did! One craft stand was selling these stuffed animals in different shapes and sizes, and it took all of 30 seconds for me to decide to buy this tiny dragon for our Dragon! 

Happy 4th!!