Fourth of July

For the holiday this year Mike and Lisa invited a few of us out on their boat. Mike has been restoring this boat since we've known him and has been holding off on taking anyone out until it was finished. Today was its unveiling and we all agreed that it was certainly worth the wait. The boat looked really nice and we had a great time hanging out in Galveston Bay.

The boys gettin' ready to head out

Neal trying to catch some fish

The sunset tonight was beautiful.  The sky kept 

changing colors - from orange to pink.   We took this

photo earlier in the evening

More sunset

For a while it started to drizzle and the sky turned cloudy.

We were worried that we'd get a downpour (as is typical

of the weather here) and have to head in before the

fireworks started.  Luckily, the sky not only cleared

but we got a gorgeous rainbow.

The gang (minus the photographer)

It was great being out on the water for the overhead

fireworks show.  Even after it was over, we had another 

hour of fireworks as different shows were going on in

the bay all around us (you can barely make out another

fireworks display at the bottom right corner of this

picture).

View of the Kemah Boardwalk from the bay

As we waited out the boat traffic before heading in after the show, we had an almost-accident with another boat.  Attempting to leave the area, another couple on their boat came too close to us and caught our anchor rope with their propeller!  Our boat started turning around in a circle to follow them, as Mike yelled for them to stop.  I've never seen a boat reverse so quickly or so precisely, but as the other boat came backwards towards our boat to get untangled, we came within inches of a collision which would probably have caused quite a bit of damage. As it was, we all had a good scare but luckily Mike and Lisa were able to salvage the anchor without having to cut the rope. Whew, what a close call!