Happy 4th of July!

Even the though the 4th was 2 days ago, I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe holiday. We have been pretty busy over the last few days. This was Tony's and my first real 4th together. 2 years ago, we were on our way to FL and last year there was the Miami flood and I was having surgery the next day. Friday (the 4th) we went and had a picnic with my parents. This is a tradition I guess you could say , been doing it for the last 26 years; however, I have missed 2 years. This is not an out-door picnic though. My parents have a porch (with windows) and it has a little table and chairs. This table and chairs used to work perfect when it was just the 3 of us (mom, dad, and I). When we added Tony, it became crowded. Invasion of my space as I said. Once I was in (in front of the window) I was stuck. There was barely room for our plates, nevertheless any food. We managed! After that Tony, my mom, and I went to visit my uncle at Freeman. He was in good spirits and had his big ole' smile showing. I will post more on this topic later. We stayed for about 45 min and then left. Tony and I ran some errands (I had to by some really cool pink/gray water shoes). We met Brooke, George, and Sarah at Logans. My parents chickened out because my mom had to make popcorn for all of us. After dinner we met at my parents house (7:15) to go to Carthage for their fireworks. This is where I've come to realize I'm more like my father. We've always gone to Carthage-before I was born my family went to Carthage. We have a certain spot, area that we park. We have to turn around so we are facing the right way to go home. We have a certain spit on the hill we sit. We always have popcorn and soda. We left at our reg. time. My parents took Randy (Brooke's dad) and Tony drove Brooke, Sarah, George, and I. We parked in our regular spot. However.... we didn't walk up far enough and didn't cross the little bridge like always. It had been 2 years!!! We found what we thought was our hill-we were up a just bit too far. I said we needed to go down further, my father disagreed. He later told me I was right. We laid on the blankets while the older folks sat in chairs. George's family happened to show up as well. The fireworks started about 9:30 and they lasted for about 20 min. Nicely done! We all left in no traffic went back to my parents and had ice cream.


Yesterday. Tony and I went to Tonya and Steven's house in Seneca. Tonya is my para at school. Seneca was having their fireworks last night. Her family was there and Steven's family was there.




Tony and Steven's brother/Steven, Meghan, Steven's mom/Food


Tonya and Meghan



We had hot dogs, hamburgers, brisket, smoked chicken, chips with my wonderful dip (thanks Brooke), salad, and dessert. I made a flag cake with fresh blueberries and strawberries. Everyone raved about it. Tony raved about the dip. We had soda and beer to drink-okay Tony had soda I had beer.


Cole-Tonya's son



Tony and Steven's brother trying to get the wasps away.


All the kids were shooting off fireworks. Then quite a few of us play volleyball. OMG, I have not played in years. Tonya, Meghan (Tonya's daughter), Tony, me, Barb, Hoot, and McKaylee were all on a team. My right hand and wrist are so bruised and swollen from serving for so long. We won! We took a break as we were all hot and icky. I cooled off with the hose. The kids shot off some more fireworks. Tonya and Steve's house is right by where they shoot the fireworks for Seneca. All that's in between is a field. In the distance were huge storm clouds with awesome lightning. At 9:45 the fireworks started. This was supposed to be the best in the area. I'd have to disagree this year. It was cool to watch with the lightning in the background.





After it ended about 10:10 or so we were going to watch the kiddos shoot of their big fireworks. All of sudden the wind picked up and it blew over the 12x12 tent in the back. Needless to say, that was the end of that. The wind just blew and blew and didn't let up so it wasn't safe to shoot fireworks off. We all ran after the tent and took it apart (all bent though). Tony and I left. We had to take the long way home as we didn't want to get stuck in traffic. We got to see some of the tornado damage we hadn't seen yet on Iris and in Racine. We got home a little before 11:45. It was a blast at their house and both sides of their families were very nice. Next year their pool will be done! I'm glad I got to spend this weekend with my family and friends!