We kept it simple for the 4th

Hopefully, everyone had a good Independence Day.

Even as a kid, we didn’t make a huge deal of the 4th of July, but one thing was sure; there would be barbeque or grilled meat. Our kids aren’t too big yet, so we keep it simple when we “que”, and this year we bought some baby back ribs. I may or not have sung the Chili’s song, inserting the words “Peezy’s Baby Back Ribs” where Chili’s Baby Back Ribs goes.

As far as cooking the ribs went, I tried to ignore them for the most part instead of the typical obsessive temperature probing and tweaking that I do. Though we thought we may cheat on our diet, that day we stayed strong. The cheat meal came the next day.

The ribs were a success because all of us seemed to enjoy them. This was a relief because I fondly remember my dad breaking out the grill any chance that he got and especially for holidays. Those meals were a little different because of the large amount of food that was prepared. That house had three school-aged boys, my father, and my mother, so every time we grilled, dad would grill like he was grilling for a basketball team. Mom and dad would tag team side dishes, which included potato salad, baked beans, yams, sometimes spaghetti, mac, and various other things. I also remember potato chips. I also remember two pies. Cheesecake and sweet potato pies.

Our house has been a little different in the past few years. We only have two young boys, so we don’t have to go too heavy-handed on our meals yet. So we keep it simple, a protein and a vegetable. This year we had ribs and Brussels sprouts. The odd thing is that kids don’t typically like Brussels sprouts, but my kids love them.

After we ate, we put on Tron: Legacy. My oldest son PJ loves movies and television, but my youngest son Lincoln, he ruins them for everyone else. Lincoln talks and talks and talks and talks and won’t stop.

At around 9 p.m. we started getting ready for the fireworks show. The show eventually started at 9:45 p.m. and to my surprise, the boys loved it and even asked the next morning if we were going to have more fireworks.

Music was played. Mosquitoes were zapped. Memories were made. I just hope that when they leave the house my boys remember my barbeque and not me spazzing out with the handheld bug zapper during the fireworks show.