Dave’s 4th of July party was a resounding success.

Dave and his wife got all their neighbors in the cul-de-sac to stay home and party together. Everyone brought their gas grills over to Dave’s house and set up on the sidewalk. People brought chairs and tables. And food, sooo much food. And of course, drinks.

Dave set up the margarita station and made his famous Li Hing Mui margaritas. All the guys BBQ’ed–pork ribs, steak, teriyaki chicken, oysters, you name it. The Coors Light flowed like wine.

One of the neighbors got one of those inflatable jumpy bouncy Power Rangers thingies for the kids to crawl inside and make like monkeys. The adults, as they drank more and more, eyeballed the Power Rangers bouncy thingy with growing interest. Sadly, none of the adults were brave enough to be the first one to make a fool of themself, and so no one followed.

After the food was put away it was time for fireworks–which are illegal in Discovery Bay. However, this didn’t stop anyone in the neighborhood from using them anyway. We had the California legal stuff, the Safe ‘n Sane fireworks. When the police eventually showed up we had 3 fountains going at once and all the kids had sparklers. The officer asked us nicely to put the fireworks away and left–to go find the guys with rockets, m80s, and mortars in the next cul-de-sac. I must say that the guys with the very illegal fireworks put on an incredible show.

At any rate, a good time was had by all. When the party was finally over all the neighbors remarked that this should be an annual thing. I hope it is; Dave has awesome neighbors.

I crashed out early that night, sleeping in the room upstairs at Dave’s house that I’ve claimed for my own. I slept from 11pm to 5am, got up, and quietly left the house. I try to do that when I sleep over. I think Dave’s wife appreciates that I’m gone before she wakes up in the morning.

So that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it (as my mother was fond of saying)…