Busy Week the Fourth of July

You would think that after the last of our visitors left on June 24th we would have taken it easy. I was mildly boasting that all of the activities with my sister were relatively free - none required tickets. We made up for that the following week. Here is one week's worth of tickets.

Frank and I went to the A's game and the Shakespeare play with our friend Vickie.
We went with Alex to the county fair. Just the two of us went to the Jersey Boys movie.

Saturday June 28, 2014 Livermore Shakespeare play Much Ado About Nothing

Sunday June 29, 2014 Alameda County Fair

Tuesday July 1, 2014 Jersey Boys movie

Thursday July 3, 2014 A's baseball game and fireworks

Friday July 4, 2015 - Downtown Livermore fireworks... free!

The Shakespeare play Much Ado About Nothing was staged on and around the porch of a Victorian house in our local Concannon Vineyard. I am not a real fan of Shakespeare and by far no Shakespeare scholar. We go to this venue because of the ambience. The acting was excellent and the actors were expressive enough that I could actually follow what was going on. We dressed in layers and had a blanket because when the evening wind picks up a bit the breeze floating across the flat vineyard land can be a tad chilly. The play was a bit long at three hours and though we did enjoy ourselves, we were tuckered out at its conclusion. Perhaps the wine and hot chocolate contributed to our overly relaxed demeanor. Fortunately the drive home from there for us it about 5 minutes!

This intimate setting hosts plays that begin just as the sun is started to set over the vineyard. Beautiful!

We took Alex to the county fair the next day mainly to see the huge livestock shed filled with cages of bunnies. We looked at the quilts and crafts area too of course.

So many bunnies and so little time to feed them all...   carrots of course! 

This little recycling hero holding up the earth caught my fancy.
Can you tell what he is made of?

Made of lids and bottle tops I'd call him... cue music...
dada-dada-dada-dada, dada-dada-dada-dada, CAPMAN!

The Jersey Boys movie we went to on the following Tuesday afternoon was entertaining. Frank and I enjoyed it. The music was good... Dawn (Go Away), Big Girls Don't Cry, Walk Like a Man, Sherry Baby, You're Just Too Good To Be True. There were some New Jersey gangster innuendoes but nothing violent or offensive. It was amusing the number of names they went through before setting on the Four Seasons.

Was it the glamour? Was it the fame? No.
It was about the music.

On Thursday July 3rd, the A's game was exciting and we had excellent seats. There were some unusual plays and part of the game was played under protest. But the good guys won - Oakland A's not Toronto Blue Jays. There were fantastic fireworks afterward and fans were invited down to the field to watch. Frank, Vickie, and I stayed in our seats and enjoyed a marvelous, comfortable view of the spectacular full-fledged fireworks show.

Fans at the Oakland Coliseum were invited to sit on the field after the game and watch the fireworks.
This photo was taken from our vantage point.

The next night, July 4th,  Frank and I walked with Alex to downtown Livermore and watched a pancake style fireworks show set off from the top of the municipal four story parking garage. A pancake show is smaller in scale and less expensive. It was big enough for our tastes, lasting 20 minutes. We were impressed and it was free. 

The relatively small crowd was friendly and low-key.

We could walk to the down town parking garage from our house to enjoy this show.

On the way back home we stopped at the lighted leaping fountains of the downtown area. The evening was warm and pleasant. The jostling throngs were jolly and not rowdy. All in all, it was a great 4th of July.

Alex loves to be out at night and among the hub-bub of crowds. He loves lights and water.
What a great way to cap off an evening of good ol' American fireworks!