Today Miss Amy turned 5 and after opening presents she went off to pre-school for the day. In the afternoon I took a cake and goodies around to pre-school so that she could have a party there because we didn't get one RSVP from the invitations we sent out. Maybe it isn't the done thing to let people know that you cannot attend something, I'm not sure. Anyway she enjoyed her day and we went out for dinner that night.

On Saturday we had some friends coming for dinner and they all have children so she had another party anyway. It was probably the hottest day so far this summer, reaching 100F. It has now been in the nineties for the last few days and a cool sea breeze would be really welcome.

Sunday, being July 4, we were invited to the fireworks at our friends, Lorri and Kirt Schumann's house in the mountain town of Nederland. Much cooler in the mountains it was a great night sitting by a reservoir, eating chicken fried chicken and watching the fireworks. On the way home, about 11pm, there was so much traffic on the freeway near home that traffic was almost to a standstill. Maybe we have lived in Canberra too long but traffic at this time of night is unheard of at home.

Other little differences:

The road toll for last year was 41, 430.

California have just passed a bill that limits the number of guns a person can buy; you can only purchase one gun per month now.

37.4 million people were expected to drive 100 miles or more over the July 4 long weekend.

37,000 people are estimated to be injured by fireworks over the long weekend.

A new 400 million dollar football stadium is being built in Denver. It will increase seating capacity by 2 seats, yes that’s right a whole 2 seats. But you will get an extra 3 inches of leg room, the seat will be 1 inch wider and best of all every seat will have its own cup holder. See you at the football.