Fabulous Fourth

How could you go anywhere other than the beach for the 4th of July?!  We pack it all in to this one weekend: fantastic food, sun, swimming, time with family and friends, & showing thankfulness for our troops & all the freedoms we have in this great country.  

I swam with Bennett for about 2 hours on Friday and Saturday.  Lots of fun times had in this pool.  

Harper was trying to stay cool because boy was it HOT! 

We caught the annual 4th of July parade on ONO Island.  Loved the pink fire truck honoring breast cancer survivors.  

Bennett LOVED all the candy, necklaces, and toys thrown to him in the parade.  

On Saturday, we had a cookout all day and Ben's family came over and Natalie's in-laws did as well.  We had a delicious spread of food and swam with the babies all afternoon.  I made a few appetizers and desserts over the weekend but most of them were gone before I could take a picture to give y'all a recipe!  I guess I'll just have to make them again to give you the recipes!  

Here was the one that I loved the most though.  I have had these little bruschetta things from catering at weddings and other parties and every time I eat more than I'd like to admit.  They are so fresh tasting and addicting.  So I just kinda guessed what the ingredients were and think it was a success!  

Bruschetta Rounds

~ French bread baguette rounds (either pre-made to make it easy or you can slice french bread & toast them yourself)

~ Mayonnaise

~ Precooked bacon chopped up (or bacon bits)

~ Roma or Grape tomatoes, sliced

~ Fresh Basil

~ Sweet Onion, chopped

~ Olive Oil

~ Salt & Pepper

1.  Put sliced tomatoes, fresh chopped basil, chopped onion, salt & pepper, and olive oil in a bowl and marinate for an hour or so.  

2.  Lay out baguette rounds on a platter

3.  Mix Mayonnaise & bacon together & spread atop the rounds (that's the really healthy step ;) haha )

4.  Top each one with a marinated tomato or several small tomatoes with the marinade mixture

5.  Top with a little extra chopped basil if you'd like! :)  

6.  Watch them get eaten in no time and try to snag a few for yourself!  

I am now officially craving these things again and so sad that there weren't any leftover!  After being at my new job and so busy lately, Ben & I have really enjoyed spending Monday at home with absolutely nothing to do!  We have seen several movies, made a big trip to Publix for groceries, and now we're about to grill hamburgers for dinner!  What a wonderful country we live in and we are so blessed to have such incredible and brave people fighting for our freedoms every day.  

Happy Independence Day!!!!