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F is for family, friends, food, fun and FREEDOM!

It was a fun and eventful three-day weekend for the Robinsons! Lots of time with friends and family, good food, great fun and of course celebrating America's freedom!

Us with our pooch, the Gradster all decked out in his Red, White and Blue

Friday night, Pat and I went to dinner at Crocker Park to join in on the American Liberty Fest activities going on there. We tried a new restaurant (well new to us anyway) Vieng's Asian Bistro. It had a pretty good menu selection ranging from sushi and Thai to Chinese. Pat and I both ordered Chinese and neither of us got anything new and different (we are creatures of habit after all). Pat got his usual General Tso's chicken and I got my usual Sweet & Sour Chicken. We both thought the food was great and the portion sizes met Pat's standards. :)While we were eating dinner, we could hear the Beatles tribute band, British Export, starting to play. After we finished eating, we went down to listen to the rest of the show. The website said British Export was an award winning tribute band, I don't know if I would go that far but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Something about sitting outside and listening to good music (free music, no less) just says summer to me and I loved it! The newlywed Detwilers and their new puppy, Kane joined in on the festivities too. After we listened to some more music, we went back to our house and let Kane and Grady play and we had a fire in the backyard. It was a good time!

Pat and me enjoying the Beatles tunes

The Detwilers: Jon, Julie and puppy Kane

On Saturday we went to a cook out at Tim & Faith Robinsons and had a nice time! They even invited the Gradster! I didn't know they had a pool until I got there but will bring my bathing suit next time for sure! I made this cake (a box mix of red velvet cake) to take over there. It was so fun to make!
Not too shabby, ay?

On Sunday Pat went off to a golf outing while I sat outside in the sun with Grady and finished my book, Dear John by Nicholas Sparks. Despite my reviews of the first half being somewhat anticlimactic and slow, the second half by far made up for it! I really enjoyed reading it (as I always do with Nicholas Sparks' books) and can't wait to watch the movie now! Lisa was my long-distance reading partner in Findlay and we definitely kept each other motivated to read faster than either of us are used to anymore! She's about to finish it today so we can have our "book club discussions." :) After I finished the book, I started cooking for the cook out we were having at our house on Sunday. I made the pasta salad (with Pat's help) and made the red velvet cupcakes (my Grandma's recipe) and cream cheese frosting from scratch. That night, we joined my BIL and SIL at their friend AJ's house for the fireworks. It was perfect! We got to sit in his front yard and enjoy the Clague Park fireworks without the hassle of the crowd. And Westlake put on a GREAT fireworks display! For the entire last 15 minutes of the show, we thought it was the grand finale. We were faked out at least three times. Thanks for the invite, Traci and Russ!

On Monday morning we finished getting ready for the cookout. I made a new cheesy potato recipe, some guacamole dip, put the finishing touches on my cupcakes and we were ready to go!


My MIL Leslie, FIL Mark and BIL, Mike all came from Brunswick, my SIL Traci and BIL Russ an their pooch Paulie came from Westpark, Pat's Grandma and Grandpa Dillon and Uncle Trent came from Parma and my Dad and Jill made the trip from Bellville! Despite the scorching heat, we had a great time! My mom and Mark couldn't come because Mark had to work but they were missed!

Self-timers on cameras are awesome, except when you cut people out of the picture.
My dad and I are supposed to be over there next to Pat!

That was our great weekend and now I'm heading off to Dayton for the week for work. I'll be back on Friday evening and will definitely be sharing the recipes with you then!

Have a great week!

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