4th of july fun

Happy belated 4th of July! I hope you all did something fabulous for the weekend. It was so fun having the holiday fall on a weekend...it just seems more fun that way, doesn't it? Birthdays, Christmas, you name it. I would rather have them fall on a Saturday or Sunday than a Tuesday.  Of course, my birthday is usually a week-long celebration (tee-hee), but it is still nice on a weekend. I figure if I have to keep having birthdays, I might as well get to stretch them out!

For the 4th this year we went to St. Louis. Let me first say that St. Louis is a fabulous place to visit. If you have not been, I highly recommend it. There is so much to do for people of all ages.  It's impossible to get bored there.  The first day we went to Six Flags. I hadn't been to an amusement park since I was a teenager (many years ago), and as soon as I walked through the front gates, I was excited. Just seeing all those amazing roller coasters, hearing the music playing all over the park, and smelling all of the yummy (albeit horribly expensive and unhealthy) food from the vendors made me want to board the fastest coaster right away. The best part...there were no lines. I don't know how this was possible on the July 4th weekend, but we literally walked on every ride. Amazing. My favorite ride was the Evil Kneivel roller coaster.  It was a classic, wooden coaster, and it was fast and FUN. There was also an amazing section for little kids, with a water feature and some log rides and teacup-like rides. The kids all had a great time, and it was a great day.

The next day was just as full, as I went to the Stone Hill Winery in Hermann, Missouri with my sister in law and some of her family members for lunch and a wine tour. The winery is German, and so the restaurant food was quite meat-intensive (and by this I mean sausage). They had a "sausage sampler" appetizer that my husband would have cried over. I did not have it, but instead opted for the bacon, ham, and cheddar quiche. It was yummy, but I would have rather had some veggies in my quiche instead of meat. I ordered a side salad to counteract it.

The winery tour was really neat. If you haven't ever toured a winery, I would highly recommend it. It is so interesting to see how wine is made. It is such a rustic science, and a really beautiful sight to behold aged wooden casks in mold-lined cellars. After the tour we got to taste some of the wines, and the clear favorites were the sweeter white wines. I tend to like Chardonnays and there were not any wines like these available. The whites were more like a Reisling or a Gewurtstraminer; very sweet, but on that hot day, they tasted great! After the tasting, we all split a bottle of the Vignoles and listened to the live band that was playing in the courtyard.After the winery, we went back to my SIL's house for a catfish fry, which are apparently Missouri tradition. My brother in law fried up catfish nuggets in a cornbread batter, and they also made some eggplant and other things. Fortunately, they also had a veggie tray to accompany all that fried food. It was delicious. I ate and drank way too much that day. It was totally worth it.

Finally, it was the 4th! We spent it at Lake St. Louis, a private lake that my SIL's grandparents live on. We spend the afternoon boating, swimming, fishing, and having a great time. We ate burgers, hot dogs, tons of different salads and sides, and watched the fireworks once it got dark. It was a really great day and weekend, but my poor family is still tired from the weekend!  We would do it again in a minute.