HAPPY FOURTH

happy independence day. some highlights from my weekend:

went to the hoffman estates, il 4th of july parade with kate's friend ali and her parents, both from poland. ali's dad bragged to me on the way to the parade that they moved to the US with 6 other families, but they were the first to get their citizenship. this is the first year in 25 years that they aren't having a bbq because their oldest daughter graduated from mizzou last week and they had a party for that. (the daughter got a journalism degree and is doing an internship in china covering the olympics, which i think is super cool.) anyway, dad is so proud of being a citizen, that he makes my dad look a little liberal. every time the american flag went by, he stood and covered his heart. and i don't just mean the honor guard at the beginning of the parade. i mean EVERY AMERICAN FLAG. do you know how many flags that is? we're talking about 100 or so floats (including bands and cars filled with local politician and teenaged beauty queens).....90% of which had some sort of american flag hanging off of it. it was very cute.

my favorite moment of the weekend, however, was this:

kate and i are playing go fish while waiting for fireworks on friday. i had beaten her game after game after game. at hand number 6 or so, it looks like she might have a chance. she 'goes fish'. suddenly she yells, "i got my king! i finally beat you, bitch!"

immediately the look on her face goes to "OMG DID I JUST SAY THAT OUT LOUD". sheer horror. eyes and mouth both open wide. fortunately for her, paul and i are laughing hysterically.