July 4th

Here is a left over pic from our VA/DC trip. Eli fell asleep and looked so uncomfortable, I propped his head up with his Easter basket Bunny from Mammaw. He looked much more comfortable :0)

The bunny is actually holding onto the car seat strap :0)


A few days later, we were headed into town. I told Eli he could bring a toy to play with in the car. He picked his Police Motorcycle helmet he got for his birthday. It has a microphone in it that you can talk into. Imagine my grin as I hear him saying into his microphone, "Test 1, 2...Test 1,2" and then singing the ABC's as loud as he can- amplified through his helmet. It was hysterical!!

Tim had to work Saturday, July 4th, so on Friday Mom and Dad stopped by our house on the way to Grandma's (Amity and Justin were also traveling with them) and after eating lunch and chilling for a little bit, we said goodbye to Papa and headed on out to Great Grandma Mellott's house (Grammalot)

Eli finally fell asleep, and after a few minutes of head bobbing, found a more comfortable position. :0)

He had a blast playing with his cousins! Here Veronica is pretending to be a puppy and the kids are chasing her down the hall.

It was a pretty dreary morning on July 4th in Indiana where Grammalot lives. Eli, Kylie, Veronica and I went for a few walks in the morning, enjoying the time outdoors (tiring the kids out :0)) I was able to get Eli to lay down for an early nap (and me with him :))

We got up just in time for everyone to be there- and to find out that it had started raining while we were in the bedroom. It was a light enough sprinkle that we all were able to eat outside under the canopies- but then soon headed inside to stay dry. Grammalot had quite a houseful!!


Eli was so very good. He stayed pretty close and listened to me well. He enjoyed having all the family around and moved several tiers up in the rock-paper-scissors tournament. Thanks cousin Terri for organizing indoor games :0)

Here he is with my Dad's sister, Judy- both of them looking quite ornery!!


He jumped into one of the Euchre tournament games to say Hi to Aunt Tara and Grammalot.


We spent quite a bit of time out of the way by the little table in the corner, playing with a few small cars and Happy Meal toys that Aunt Judy just happened to have with her :0)

Never a dull (or still) moment with 3 year olds around :0) His second cousin Carson was also there- just a few months older than Eli. We (the 3 of us) went for a walk in the rain under a big umbrella. What a great way for a little boy to burn off extra energy- walking in the rain, splashing in puddles, listening to the sound of the pitter patter on leaves and pavement. Ahhh- what a life :0)

Kylie joined me on the floor at one point- and cousin Laura snapped a great pic of the two of us :0)

This is Kylie and Eli- I told them to say,"Stinky feet!!" for the camera. She looked at Eli and said, "Look at those cheeks!! I just want to pinch them....I could eat them up....."

At which point, Eli grabbed his cheeks first!!

Well, as you can imagine, we had a blast talking and sharing inside- but we also found that with so many bodies inside- it heated up very quickly. So, after a little while, Eli and I headed outside to say hi to Tim.

And Eli proceeded to eat Tim's face!!

But Tim soon sucked his face back out of Eli's belly- and all of us were laughing so hard we could hardly catch our breath :)

It rained the whole day and into the night. The first time anyone can remember this happening, and we've been gathering there for many, many years!!

But, the fireworks would not be thwarted. The guys all sat around watching the weather map on their phones, and around 9 we all headed out, huddling under the tarps to watch the annual display.

IT...WAS...AMAZING!!!!

It was like 20 minutes of grand finales!! Sooo grand and beautiful.

At one point, Eli said something to the effect of, "Fireworks, you know I like you, don't you? I like you, fireworks!!!"

After each pause, he would say, "There's another one, right?"

How beautiful!! and no worries about starting a fire this year :0)

So, we packed up Sunday morning and headed home. This time, everyone from my family that went stopped by for lunch on the way home. Everyone seemed to enjoy the playset :0)

"The Kids"

My point and shoot camera doesn't normally do a stellar job in taking photos. But I did think this was cool- with Rick in focus (somewhat) and the girls swinging by :0)

It was a great weekend. So nice to see family we don't get to see very often. Happy Independence Day everyone- just a few weeks late!!

Thank you God for our country- may we continue to be a people who strive to please you and not try to shove you out of our lives!

God Bless America!!