how we celebrated

It just so happens that Chris' aunt & uncle were vacationing on the west coast and needed someone to housesit for them over the holiday weekend, and our weekend was open, so our plans were made! Their house is a large log cabin tucked back in the woods away from pretty much everyone and everything. They have the best pool (organic shape like it was meant to be there) with a waterfall, a hot tub, a large pond (story about that further down), a gym, and lots more to keep us occupied! Of course my favorite part was swimming. I've always loved the water, and I'm better in that than I am on land! Side note, we wrote Chris' aunt & uncle a note before we left, and I made Chris write this, "Danielle's stealth and speed are unrivaled, and I (Chris) am jealous." I made him put his name in parenthesis so they'd know who the jealous one was. I kept making Chris race across the pool with me, and I honestly can't believe he kept doing it because I won every time! I'm a mean wife, and he's a good sport.

A little underwater camera action, and of course the infamous hand heart. What can I say, I heart swimming! I haven't been practicing my handstands for a while, so could only walk on my hands for a few steps before I flipped over. A few years ago I got so good I could walk on my hands half way across the shallow end!

We brought Flojo out to the pool with us in her travel cage, and if there's one thing she inherited from me (besides her love of eating), it's her love of playing in the water, so we set the hose to mist and let her flap and shake until her little birdie heart was content!

Now, onto the pond story. So the pond is really quite large, and a nice, relaxing addition with it's gentle waterfall, pretty goldfish and lush water plants. Having said that, it's also the place where I could have been viciously murdered by a copperhead. On Sunday evening, I was feeling sort of irritated (thanks, PMS), so I decided I'd go sit by the pond and watch the fish and the frogs while I switched back from monster to human. We'd been told that snakes occasionally visit the pond to eat the goldfish, and at first I had my guard up, but since I didn't see any the first few days, I got comfortable... big mistake. So I was sitting there looking around when I noticed a copperhead to my right poking its head out of the water watching me. I told Chris a couple days before that, as he was going back in the house, and I was walking around the pond by myself, "if you hear a scream, either I fell in, or I saw a snake." So I started screaming and basically made one huge record-breaking long jump from the pond to the house and told Chris, "A SSSNNNAAAAKKKKKKE!" So he went outside thinking he'd use something to sling it into the woods, and he realised it was a deadly copperhead. So yeah, I used dirty language and refused to visit the pond again. Ever.

I'd said something to Chris about getting sparklers so we could have a little celebration, so after we finished dinner on Saturday night, he surprised me with regular sparklers, and a kind called "morning glories" which changed colors as they burned. He was a pro and spelled his name, but I'm really not sure what I was doing in that picture!

So, that's how we spent our Independence Day, how was yours? What did you do to celebrate?

18 comments:

  1. what a lovely weekend! it sounds so relaxing!

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  2. Ah, I remember doing handstands as a kid! I used to be really good at it -- I'd probably throw out my back or something now. ;-D Sounds like you had a great weekend! We did, too, although it rained most of the time. I love your bathing suit!

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  3. too cute! love it <3

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  5. oh my goodness.
    flojo looks freakin adorable with her feathers all wet.

    my grandmother has a house in the foothills...i have seen rattlesnake skins but have never actually seen a living, breathing snake.

    scary.

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  6. ashlee, you are so lucky. i could have lived my entire life without seeing a snake, but no, i see them way too often! i've never really liked them that much, but after one snuck into my house the other summer (when i was home alone, no less), i've become completely terrified. and i've actually seen more in the last few months than i've seen in YEARS.

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  7. Matt spelled his name too! I just stuck with the "M" haha... we have boxes of regular sparklers and then cheap chinese ones that say "morning glory" on them, although they're wrapped in rainbow tissue paper they didn't even spark! they just caught on fire! haha.

    p.s. i still love you even though you like comedy central. and i haven't watched in for-evaaa so for all I know Colbert sucks now too.

    we did watch Tosh.0 last night though and I was giggling the whole time!

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  8. your snake story scared me so much! ugh ... it's (almost) my biggest fear! but your pictures are darling.

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  9. Awww I love that Flojo got to party too! :) I actaully went to a USA themed party (..in Australia!) it involved beer pong, flip cup, cookies and sparklers.. fun times!

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  10. I love these photos!! Looks like you had an amazing weekend! XO

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  11. Awww this looks like so much fun! What an amazing place to housesit! I loooooove pools (and oceans, rivers, lakes, etc.) and could stay in the water all day. There aren't many pools in San Francisco, so I jump in my friends' pool (they live in Marin County just over the Golden Gate Bridge) whenever I possibly can. xoxo.

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  12. looks like a perfect independence day, and you make me want to get the underwater camera out! love the heart and the sparklers.

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  13. love the underwater shots!
    we saw a copperhead off of the boyf's river dock. I refuse to get in the water!

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  14. so fun~ i love all the photos!
    especially the sparklers spelling chris!

    SNAKES!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH
    xo
    b

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  15. These are pretty! I love the way the light falls on that waterlily just so.

    And cute bathing suit!

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  16. These are the most fantastic pictures ever. That sparkler photo is #1!

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  17. this looks like a wonderful 4th of july celebrations, apart from the snake incident of course! i love your sparkler and underwater photos!

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  18. I love that swimsuit. I went to j crew after you first posted it, but couldn't find it and couldn't decide on another, so I gave up. Also...I forgot about sparklers! How could I? Tru would've loved those. Maybe we'll celebrate again!

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I'd love to hear what you think!