My parents came out for a long weekend over 4th of July and it was jammed packed with fun! They have a lot of friends from when they lived out here 20+ years ago and they are true blue friends, you know the kind, you don't see them for ten years or more at a time and when you get together it's like no time has passed at all. I personally love that they are all still here because I feel like I have four extra sets of surrogate moms and dads. Since the first week we moved out here I found this restaurant down at pier 52 called Elliotts that has a progressive oyster on the half shell happy hour and I've been awaiting my dad's visit since March so that we could take them there as I had a feeling he would love it......feeling was dead on by the way! We spent about 2 hours sweating in the Seattle sun and I think we ate at least 4 dozen oysters plus some ahi avocado deliciousness and of course lots of wine and I do believe dad was impressed. Headed to Pikes Street Market after that and I think they loved seeing that whole scene again. On the 4th we went out on my uncles boat with about 12 other people for a relaxed sun filled 4th on the water. For all my Finegan family members that read this you all know that we love Ray with all our hearts but if you've ever been on the boat with him you know there always has to be some sort of adventure. We started the day about 45 minutes late which we all knew would happen so really we were right on time, and then came the leaving of the dock...now let me preface this by saying Ray is a top notch captain and if you were in a dangerous situation you would probably actually want him piloting the boat.
Now let me remind you that just backing the huge 30 foot boat out of the marina is a site to see in itself and I've never seen Ray have a problem doing this and he didn't have a problem backing the boat out on the 4th either.....however with that many people on the boat and all the excitement we somehow failed to realize that one of the ropes was tied to a prop underneath the boat. All of a sudden all the engines die and alarms start sounding, we are diagonal between two sailboats headed straight for the dock with a boat that will easily send it crashing into the ocean while the old hagred chain smoking marina manager is yelling for us to watch out for the dock because we are about to hit it. Really? because the alarms and dead engines gave us no clue this was about to happen lady. Anyway we somehow row ourselves over to a sailboat that luckily has no owners on it and while half of us hold on to the sailboat ropes we realize that someone needs to dive in and cut the rope. There is one guy on the boat that dives all the time and says he's willing to go in which I think is a great Idea. Then I turn around to see none other than my dad who has no idea how cold the water is or exactly where the rope is caught stripping down to his swim trunks beating his chest ready to jump in. Now I know my dad is in incredible shape and he's done way more dangerous stuff than this throughout his life but in all the serenity that makes up my personality (yeah right) I start to freak out and worry just a little bit. Either way he's going in and my worrying makes no difference so I just go to the other side of the boat and ignore his gasping for air as he realizes just how cold the water is and try to think good thoughts. Like I said I knew he could do it deep down inside and after 20 minutes of him diving practically blind to the middle of the underneath of the boat with a knife he gets the rope cut and is the HERO of the 4th of July. Anytime he needed any sort of cocktail the rest of the day one of us lovely ladies of leisure was happy to fetch that for him. I am so happy my parents came out and I am so lucky to have such a great relationship with them both. I cried when I picked them up at the airport because I was so happy to see them and cried the whole way home from the airport after dropping them off. I know not everyone truly enjoys days on end with the parents, and even better my husband feels the same way about them, but I can honestly say I can't wait for the next time we all get together!! All in all probably the best 4th I've ever had and definitely the best fireworks show I've ever seen. Although when you have the Seattle skyline behind you and the lake in front of you while grilling lamb chops on a massive boat you would be a giant ass to complain!
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