Happy 4th!

I hope that everyone had a great 4th of July! We had a very fun and relaxing day. As I thought about the day I realized that it is pretty much the way I've been celebrating the 4th (with a few exceptions) for the past 25+ years... swimming at Carol's, a cook-out, and fireworks! This year Barry had the day off, so he was able to join us, and I was so grateful for that. It was fun to have him with us. It was hot and sunny when we headed out around lunch time. By the time we got to Carol's, we could see storm clouds around us, but it was still sunny. I changed into my suit, talked to my sisters for a few minutes, then headed out to the pool. By that time, the sun was gone, and the rain was headed in. Those in the pool swam through the rain, and Barry and I stood on the porch and watched them. I wanted to make sure that it wasn't going to start lightening before I got in. The weather seemed to pass quickly, so I headed on into the pool. Barry was content to sit and watch. He really isn't much of a swimmer, unless we are at the beach. We swam for a while, then the dark storm clouds returned, so we all got out, dried off, and headed down to the farm (my parent's place). Although it was great for the rest of the evening, but bad for the sake of the farm, it didn't rain at the farm, so Kris did the grilling at her house, and we hung out with my mom. The kids played outside until it was time to eat, jumping on the trampoline, or swinging. The food was great, but there was just so much of it that it was hard to decide what to eat! We all seemed to want it all, but got way too full before we were even close to finishing everything! We watched movies until it got dark (there was Stardust in one room, and 10,000 BC going in another... the majority of us watched Stardust, which is a great movie!) and then started the fireworks show. Barry and I had talked about coming back to town and watching the big display here, but we decided to stay. I'm glad we did... the kids had fun helping to shoot them off, and playing with the sparklers (somehow the day just isn't the same without sparklers!). We missed my sister, Kathy, and her family this year... it just doesn't seem like the 4th without them. We made it home around 11:00, and the kids headed straight for bed. Megan is staying at the farm for the next few days, and the rest of the kids and I will join her this week.

As I was looking through my pictures of the day, I realized that Kayti wasn't in any of them. She has started making herself scarce when I pull out the camera, a bad habit that I can't for the life of me figure out where she picked up... hee hee! Here are some of my favorites from the day:

The girls and I made a "flag cake" (red velvet cake with blueberries and cherries)


The boys on the swing


Fireworks