Hey Paradise! You are so close to goal! Good for you.

I am going to my family's lake place in Idaho for the 4th. We will have a large gathering with many other friends at Spirit Lake. This picnic has been going on since the '60's. A lot of my parents friends would drive out from Spokane to have this big picnic and bring lots of fireworks. Many of them eventually bought summer homes on the lake. We bought ours in 1963 in a small gated community (the gates are never closed - but it is posted as private property). The houses are very old - ours was a tiny cabin built in the 1930's that we have expanded. There is a clubhouse with a huge yard and great beach for the members to use and that is where we have always had our 4th of July picnic.

I don't get over for the 4th very often anymore - it's ~ 400 miles from where I live now. I usually get out to the lake for a week or less every summer, but I haven't been over for the 4th since 2000 - shortly after my Dad died. It's sort of become his memorial picnic in a way. We all bring our own food and may share a few things with each other, but it should be pretty easy to control my intake. I was thinking of making a batch of LC brownies or something - just to show off that this WOE is not about deprivation.

Happy celebrating!