Land Of The Free…

…Because of the brave.  This past week we got to celebrate our Independence Day with my parents, my sister, her husband, and their new little baby girl Gracie!  The kids were beyond excited to get to see and hold their sweet cousin.  She is such a cutie and an extremely easy baby!  I had so much fun making festive food for the celebration!  I can’t say enough how much better food tastes when you stick a little flag in it or give it some fun pizazz with a colorful topper!  We went to T. R. Hughes ballpark that evening to watch the fireworks.  They also had some fun entertainment, and we ran into our friends the Biggers while there.  Aunt Tracy brought some cool glow items for the kids, and they played a little ball while there.  We found Abby several times laying down flat in the dirt of the ball field.  She told me she was “making Abigails”!  I think that is her summer version of snow angels!  The next day we had ladder golf competitions.  My dad offered us money if we could beat him, bringing back those childhood memories when a quarter to beat my dad was pure motivation!  We let off our own fireworks that evening.  The kids also had fun throwing some popping snappers.  The boys threw some from Shawn’s truck.  As I sat in the grass with Abigail, I felt one of those snappers lodge in my ear…what are the chances??!!!  My ear began ringing, and I had to pull the snapper out from my ear.  Shawn actually saw it go off/spark inside my ear.  My sister’s words came to mind, “Let’s just assess the situation…”  Ha!  After some ringing and a little numbness, everything was fine.  Shawn calls it my “war story”!  We also tried setting off some fun confetti poppers the next day that Aunt Tracy brought.  It turned out that the whole bag was a dud, but I had to share a photo of Dylan trying one because the expression on his face when his didn’t explode with confetti makes me smile every time I see it.  It was such a fun weekend, and Abigail got very sad when my sister’s car pulled away; I think it finally sunk in that they were heading home.  Looking forward to our next visit!

P.S. I am so grateful for the photos that my dad took while here.  About half of these are his, and I will treasure them forever!