Fourth of July, Part Two

I was busy doing the hosting so I didn't get many pictures.  My daughter Gennifer over at

Life In The Hass House  

will have much more, and they will be much better than mine.  She has become quite the photographer!  The weather was unseasonably cool for this time of year, so we didn't spend the day in the pool like we had planned.  Drew and Diana spent a few hours out there though.

 I was busy in the kitchen preparing this...

 And this...

I roasted jalapenos from my garden for our mesquite grilled shrimp tacos.  

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 If you like Mexican food, I highly recommend you try this Cotija cheese to go with it.  It is more crumbly and has a bit of a salty taste to it, and adds a lot of flavor.  We love it with tacos and on refried beans.  You will too, try it!  I made a little white sauce for the tacos with sour cream and lime juice and taco seasoning.  You can do this with non fat yogurt too, if you are watching your waistline.
I also made Pioneer Woman's Blackberry Cobbler again. This is so easy and SO good!  I made homemade vanilla ice cream to go on top.  Oh la la!

Here is Mr. G cooking up the shrimp on the grill.  

 For these shrimp, they turn out so much better on the weber grill using charcoal and mesquite.  We have done them on a gas grill, but you don't get that smokey mesquite flavor that, in my opinion, really makes these so great.

 I marinated these in oil, lemon and lime juice, and the zest, lots of garlic, roasted jalapenos, salt and a little hot sauce.  Flip your marinating dish a few times to get all of the fish coated and marinated well.  A couple of hours is good.  Skewer the shrimp onto skewers that have been soaked in water to prevent them catching fire while cooking.  Cook only a few minutes each side, until pink.  Don't overcook, or they will be tough.  Remove tails and serve on corn tortillas with all the goodies, like cabbage, white sauce, cheese, tomatoes, peppers, guacamole and more fresh lime squeezed onto your tacos.  YUM!!

 Mr. G made is special guacamole for the tacos.  That is why I only have one measly avocado sliced into the bowl of toppings.  He used them all up!!!  There in the background is our neighbor Christopher.  He manages to make an appearance at all of our parties.
The kids didn't swim, but they had fun playing in the playhouse and on the swings.

Miss Claire loves her food!  After dinner, we gave her  some cotton candy.  She held it in her hand for a long time, not knowing what to do with it.  

 And what is the Fourth without watermelon running down your arm to your elbow?

We were all so stuffed that we had to wait to have this.

Some just nibbled on this instead.

After a day of eating and having fun. We put our banana loungers and zero gravity chairs out on the sport court and watched the fireworks show.  

Noah had the best seat in the house.  He covered Uncle Drew's ears for him too when the fireworks were too loud!!  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!!!