Fourth Of July 2022

Happy belated Fourth of July, 2022, everyone! I had a three day weekend, so the girls and I played some random games together and watched movies.

My babies love to do more than just games together; they do nearly everything together. They worked as a team, and made bratwurst dogs and home-made fries for lunch on Saturday. Leila figured something out, if you wish to boil the bratwurst.

Leila: Bring the pot to boiling, then put in the bratwurst. Boil for exactly 10 minutes, then cut the temperature in half for the next ten minutes. Remove from heat.

We all love the bratwurst with cheese inside, and when I took a bite, cheese squirted out and on to the table! I cannot eat bratwurst without relish, so it was ketchup, mustard and relish.

We had extended time for house chores and conversations. Laundry got all done, and we all did work with our balcony plants. The temperature outside is very high lately, so we had to again bring inside the balloon flowers.

Masami the workhorse, spent a lot of time examining our website data over this extended time off.

Masami: Leila, you need to look at this. A visitor from Belize saw our website! I thought you said that you send family raw data only, so they do not come to our website?

Leila: That is true, so I have no idea who that could be. But yes, it is very nice to see!

As mentioned, the girls love to play games together. One game they have been lately mesmerized by is a game called SimCity2000. Masami found it on our computer, and I have not played it in a long time.

They consider themselves co-mayors, so it is a team building exercise. They play the game until they feel like starting over. Currently, they are on their fourth project, and hence this (they call it a country, not a city) is called, “LM4”.

They both have their own college and stadium. Masami’s side of town is in the North side of LM4. Masami’s college is ChaXen State University, and the stadium is called Pearls Stadium; a baseball team. Masami’s focus is mostly low housing this time around, and very big on factories and industry itself.

Leila’s work is done on the South side of LM4, and her college is called ChaXen University. Leila’s stadium is called ‘OakTreePalace’, home of the Owls, a football team. Leila is most focused on business and high-dollar housing.

The LM4 Central district:

The LM4 East side district:

The LM4 West side district:

Gearing up for our Fourth of July shoot, we did some very early morning test shots. Inside the balcony is easy to do, but limited. Outside the balcony on the ground is easy and not very limited, but just barely more than a head and a neck can currently be photographed.

Then of course, it was ‘selfie time’…

The girls changed their clothes, and got ready for the fireworks show from the balcony. Random fireworks were going off as they did this.

I think between the two, Masami seems to enjoy watching the fireworks the most. She seems entranced by the loud explosions and pretty colors and display of it all.

Masami: Your shoes do not match.

Leila: So sue me. I like them and they are my newest pair.

It was time to move out to the balcony. We had the pleasure of watching three separate fireworks shows at the same time.

Since this was a first attempt, I have a lot to learn about doing a video next time. My main camera is really better as just still photography. It certainly was not meant much for night-time video work.

Still, the intention was there and I tried, but I’ll work on doing it better next time!

Happy (belated) Fourth of July everyone!!