Belated 4th

Well, when you have company, you don't always have time to do everything - like blog - so this is a belated Happy 4th!

Mom and Dad are visiting again - yay - they came in town for Mom's 45th high school reunion last Saturday night (picture later) and this coming Saturday Mom's getting together with some gals she grew up with and went to church with years ago. Thankfully they were able to schedule that get together to be on a Saturday close to the reunion and only make one trip - whew!

Back to the 4th!

It was a nice day to start off - HOT, as usual, but then what do you expect on the 4th in Texas!?!

CKB set out to grill and things were going well, then the dark clouds rolled in, and yep, the bottom fell out! It POURED! Ever grilled w/an umbrella before? :) Too bad I didn't get a picture of that! Anyway, Dad held the umbrella whilst the grill was unloaded and the food was kept from getting ruined. Good thing because it would've been a big waste! The steaks were wonderful, grilled veggie packets turned out yummmmmmy and the ears of corn were fantastic as well - great job CKB!

We were all stuffed, needless to say!

The rain stopped, thankfully, and we were able to go out and relax a bit in the backyard to the tune of the neighbors and their fireworks.

Dad relaxing for a moment...



Now, we do not live in the country, so technically this should not have been going on, but we didn't mind it too much....at first. We could see some of the ones the neighbors were shooting off that went up pretty high and it was just enough for us.

One from the neighbors...


The fireworks were in front of us and behind us so we were able to see quite a few and the children thought it was great. Mr. A really enjoyed it! This went on for awhile as we played ball, catch, etc. until it got too dark. Just before dark, we enjoyed (well, everyone but me because I don't like it) some watermelon. They all said it was good. I took their word for it.

Mr. A looking up to his big brother for watermelon eating tips....

Mr. E: Just take a BIG bite and let the juice drip all over your
shirt, Mr. A - it'll wash....

Mr. A: O-TAY!

Mr. A: Like this?


They all like watermelon...I just don't get it....


Miss A enjoying her hunk of watermelon...apparently she was listening in on that juice dripping down your chin advice....


The fireworks continued awhile longer and when it was dark enough we pulled ours out....no, nothing big, we try to follow the rules around here :) - we had purchased some sparklers - yes, pretty tame, but w/small children, even a sparkler can be dangerous when they aren't careful! Miss E, Miss A and Mr. E had a good time w/them - poor Mr. A couldn't quite understand why he couldn't have one, but he wasn't too upset - he got to watch!

Here are a few outtakes - pardon the horrid picture quality - I haven't quite figured out nighttime fireworks photography, as you will see...

CKB....


Miss E



Miss A


Mr. E


and another...


We even talked Mom into 1 sparkler of her own - it wasn't easy though!



It was getting late when we stopped with the sparklers and we headed in to get everyone ready for bed. Remember when I said we didn't mind the fireworks...at first? Well, at 10:30 p.m. when I was still hearing them going off right outside the house I was tired of them - thankfully it stopped shortly thereafter. The only other issue w/the neighbors' fireworks happened shortly before we decided it was time to come in - bottle rockets started flying over and close to the house - not fun - instead of risking someone getting hit by one of these things as it whizzed by, we headed in for the night.

Hope you had a happy and safe 4th as well!
As promised, here's a picture of Mom and Dad before they left for Mom's reunion:


Dad said she was the Belle of the Ball :)