Happy 4th of July!

Eric joked this weekend that he was shocked that I don't dislike July 4th because I am sometimes a bit... critical? of the good ol' USA. But of course I do love it, and I would argue instead that July 4th is one of my top favorite holidays of the year, up there with Christmas and Thanksgiving.

When I was younger I always spent 4th of July in NH with my cousins. We were always in a crazy small town New Hampshire parade, the same one I went to watch my little cousins in last year. When I got a little older, I stayed home over July 4th to hang out with my friends. I've seen the Boston fireworks a few times, but never actually in downtown Boston, from great viewing locations in Arlington Heights and on top of the MIT dorms instead. Since Eric and I have been dating, we have been tons of different places on July 4th. We went to the Cape one year, we were in Rome once, we stayed home once, and we've been to a few different places in NH. I cannot remember a bad Fourth of July. What's not to love about warm weather, family and friends, cook outs, parades, and fireworks?

This year's Fourth of July weekend started with Eric and I planning to leave early Friday morning for NH, stopping in Manchester for lunch. However, we quickly realized that our plan would leave us eating lunch at 10 am. Luckily, we are not travel rookies. We found the best touristy thing to do in the Manchester area (it's actually in Merrimack, NH), the Anheuser-Busch Brewery!



This gorgeous place (and yes, I am pretty sure I have never described a brewery as gorgeous before) is located less than an hour from Boston and offers a free tour. The tour takes you through the inner workings of the beer making process...







At the end, they let you try 2 full beers of your choice. I tried the Bud Select 55 (which by the way, I liked- it was similar to Bud Light I thought) and Stella Artois, which I haven't had since London but reminds me of being there :)

After the tour we walked over to the Cydesdale stables. I have never seen these horses in real life, but they are a sight. They are HUGE and beautiful...



This guy is getting a bath :)

Look how beautiful the stables are too...



If you ever want a fun day trip from Boston, I highly recommend this.

Once we got to NH, the weekend was filled with some relaxation and lots of fun. For once I was pretty happy to be away from the internet, my wedding planning was limited to what could be taken care of on my blackberry.

Here are the highlights...

Eric's new friend:



We stumbled upon another small town NH parade (it had a Red Sox theme going on...notice the red socks hanging in the truck haha):



Rock water sliding:



Marshmallow roasting:





Boat riding:



Fire work watching:



Ice cream eating (this flavor was Moose Tracks frozen yogurt- aka vanilla with fudge swirl peanut butter cups, aka heaven):





Cake eating (ok I actually did not eat this cake, but I liked looking at it!):



And last but not least, boat driving:



So I had a great weekend! How about you guys?

On the agenda this week? An awesome "to do" list, tutoring some adorable kiddos, leaving for the Cape on Wednesday night to do a little thing called...get married. Major goals of the week include DRINK WATER (I am usually an insane water drinker but since my schedule has been off I haven't been as good) and maintain some level of calmness through exercise.

And most importantly, Caroline taught me a cool way to make a capital "H" in my signature, so now I'm more excited to change my last name. Yes, I operate like a 5 year old.