memorial day was wonderful. it was the first real summer holiday that i have been able to celebrate in what feels like years. it was also my last day of the unemployed life, so i really wanted to relax and do things i enjoy. we spent the day at my parents house, lounging around, eating, reading outside, listening to johnny cash, playing in the sprinkler, playing frisbee, riding bikes, and doing other such summer activities. it was nice to have a day of just hanging out at my family's house without any angeda besides eating.

after we ate tons of food and were all lounging around outside, joel decided to dip into his bag of tricks. he has an seemingly endless supply of firecrackers and whatnot. he started out by throwing a few of those little snapper guys that sound like caps going off. then he lit one of the snakes, which no one was too impressed by (i suppose they are lame, but i like them). my parents, grandparents, and their little jack russel terrier, abby, were sitting in a circle behind us, not paying much mind to joel's lackluster display. i suppose the sight of them sitting there so lackadaisically was too big of a temptation for joel because the next thing we knew, he had lit and tossed some sort of granade into the center of their little circle. no one knew what to say, for a second i thought that it might blow up into some loud sparklely explosion, singeing my parents and grandparents faces and shins and doing god knows what to little abby. they all looked at it in horror but stayed frozen in their seats. finally my mother yelled "joel!" in totally disbelief just as the grenade went off, releasing a pea green stream of smoke directly into my family's faces. my body was racked with spasms of laughter for the next ten to fifteen minutes. beth couldn't even look at my parents; i think it was too much for her.

we capped off the night with the sandlot, which growing up, was my favorite summer movie. i used to be in love with benny. all and all a fantastic day and the best memorial day i can ever remember.