The Fourth, The Friends, The Food, The Fun, & The Fifth?!

Now I know what you are thinking? What did he do to need to plead the Fifth? That's not what I meant. I meant that this year's Independence with The Duttons spilled over into a great July 5th. Largely in part to the visitation of Kendra Dyer and her daughter Abby. You see, Kendra is a friend of the family from NoVa (she and I co-taught ESOL Science together for 3 years at Sandburg and have managed to keep in touch.) She and Abby were on their way to GA to visit family and I convinced them to take a detour through the Richmond area to enjoy the festivities at Rancho Duttonero. Let's just say that we didn't disappoint. This year we invited a record crowd to enjoy our special brand of excitement. We invited the Dillons, Johnsons, Arringtons, Bushes, Woolums, and of course the aforementioned Dyers. We estimated 25 - 30 visitors (actual turnout was closer to 20) and decided it would be better to let someone else do the cooking. We weighed our options and decided to go with Qdoba. We needed food for the masses. They cater...seemed a logical deduction. We ordered the Nacho Bar for 30 people. Now the funny thing is that when Tiffy went to pick up the food...they gave us extra...NICE. We not only got the chicken...but steak, queso, extra chips, and brownies....and the people rejoiced! We had so much food that I am sad to say some of it was donated to the trash. But enough of that sad talk...not only were the fireworks great, the volleyball extravaganza that was the prelude was outstanding. The only damper came when a passing shower ended the game prematurely (as if we were actually keeping score) and forced the competitors to go back for another helping of nachos...what a pity!

(For those of you who are wondering about the fireworks, please see the entry for last July 4th entitled "Fireworks Sans The Traffic. Oh yeah, this year all of the pictures are real!) No fakes!

So our celebration of the Fourth was a huge success and is quickly becoming a standing tradition. That is good because ask anyone...I like tradition. You just don't mess with it. But on to the rest of this entry. The fun didn't stop with the fireworks. When Kendra and Abby confirmed their visit to the Rancho, we decided to surprise them with a limo ride around the town complete with lunch and a trip to the Kentucky Horse Park...this venue will be host to the 2010 World Equestrian Games! This of course was all made possible thanks to our neighbor Gary and Elite Limo Service (see previous entry "Eight Is Not Enough.") Here we see Sir Hugh as he is escorted to the car by Miss Abby. (Let me just add that Sam was smitten with Abby and even shed tears for her on an occasion!)

Here we see the lovely Miss Abby as she is about to embark on her ride in style around the greater Lexington area.
Once inside we see the "celebrities" of the day enjoying the finer points of limo transportation.
Of course no expense was spared to ensure that Sir Hugh had custom seating complete with his favorite treats.
Onward we went to the Kentucky Horse Park where there was....well...horses. But not just horses, famous horses, statues of horses, horses for petting, horses for riding...you get the point.




After the park, we went to a lovely lunch at one of our favorite places, Max & Erma's where we enjoyed good food and conversation. We then wrapped up the outing with a trip to Grater's Ice Creamery...I had the Strawberry Sorbet (lactose free) & keeping with tradition...Sam had a nap.