I didn’t really plan on hosting a bbq on the 4th of July. The lawn hasn’t been mowed, I didn’t have a much food in the fridge, bbq’s out of propane, no decorations or fun things planned. But when some friends were all excited about getting together to celebrate, we pulled it together and bbq’d it up on the fourth of July.

Ideally, it would have been fun to make a red white and blue cake, make blueberry and strawberry daiquiris with pina coladas, hang up streamers, paint an American flag beer pong table on plywood, and set up water games for the kids. Or at least have the grass cut. But between a trip to the grocery store for tri tip and beers, and getting the propane tank refilled, the house needing tidying and lots of cooking to be done. So no time for ambitious decorating projects.

I was able to throw together some decorations inside the house on the chalkboard and with a white paint pen on the mirror and door window. The eagles are both drawn from Ed Emberley books. Remember those? I loved to draw when I was a kid, and I had a couple of these. I was so cool I would skip most of the steps and just draw the last frame. #notcoolatall My kids are really into the Ed Emberley books and get them all the time from the library. So often I have to limit them to three each trip.

I was excited, however, to get to use our new outdoor table to its full capacity, and try out our fancy new chairs. All are from Ikea, and the chairs are aluminum, which I love. Between these eight chairs and our chaise lounge chairs, we only had to bring in a couple chairs from the house to fit everybody. Not too bad, everyone had a place to sit, but I did run out of steak knives. Before we entertain outside next time I’ll have to pick up some steak knives and maybe some more large plates. I hate to have paper plates, and I’ve seen people use mix matched thrift store plates at outdoor parties, sometimes even super cute vintage sets, but I like a big stack of white plates I can use anytime. Unless I found a couple dozen coordinating plates at a thrift store, it’ll be a box full of plates from Tar-zhey.

The food on this table was just the stuff I made. Tri tip steaks, chicken wings, deviled eggs, onion dip with vegetables and potato chips, olives, tortilla chips with salsa and cheese dip. Beers, berry daiquiris and sodas. I thought we were pretty well covered as far as food goes. Our guests ended up bringing a huge spread by themselves, agua fresca, macaroni and potato salad, herb corn, rib eye steaks, carrot cake cupcakes, chocolate cake, more beer, and we had to grab the little table the little kids were going to sit at to put more dishes on. We were all very full.

My poor poor children had never before played with sparklers, they had been deprived of the magic of fireworks. They made up for lost time and were overjoyed to play with sparklers, going through 20 boxes. We followed that up with one larger firework in the backyard, then the city show as seen from the junior high field by our house. It was a successful night for us all. Especially since there was just enough chocolate cake for the husband and I to each have a small slice of leftover chocolate cake before bed.

Being 45 minutes away from the beach is an incredible luxury. Even though we don’t often make the trip, having the option is priceless. And when I looked at my schedule yesterday and I saw that I had almost nothing on the calendar today, we all immediately thought of the beach.

The drive from home through Sebastopol and up the Bohemian Highway got us to Bodega Bay in less than an hour. We brought nothing besides sunscreen, an extra set of clothes, and the camera. A blanket or a cooler with drinks and snacks might have been a welcome addition, but it was fine without. I see a beach bag in the trunk at all times from now on.

We like the Salmon Creek beach, and give the kids free reign at the inlet where the creek heads into the ocean. Eroding sand walls framing the shallow water, with plenty of driftwood and seaweed floating by, and the sight and sound of the waves across the sand. The sand was warm, the water was frigid, and we were all happy to be there.

This afternoon a friend posted a link to Facebook about the local parks department hosting a gaggle of catering trucks this afternoon by the lake, and I was up and out the door. Few things can rival my enthusiasm for the park trails on a sunny day and food. Sweet, glorious, catering truck food!

There are a couple of street food gatherings in the area, between Munch Monday, Tasty Tuesdays, and the wealth of farmers markets. It was so nice to be able to visit Spring Lake and have a late lunch, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Sonoma County Parks. A number of rangers were around to speak about the park, offer memberships, information, and told me about some of the great education programs they offer. We are so lucky in Sonoma County to have 45 (!) community and regional parks! I typically hit the trails around Spring Lake and Howarth park three days a week, I love having access to such beautiful, well maintained, and prolific trails.

The parks department is considering making this a regular event, depending on the feedback and support from this afternoon. It was a beautiful walk on the trails to get to the boat launch, where three local food truck purveyors offered everything from burritos to calamari.

And how often do you get a chance to enjoy some fresh chicken flautas and a goose view? I just hope we see more vendors parking their trucks at the lake for a nice mid week treat. A gelato truck or an ice cream vendor would kill there!

A version of this post was featured on Sono-Ma.com.