Don't Shoot!

Most people who know me, know I don't much care for Thanksgiving. It's all about cooking (which I hate). It's messy. The china has to be washed by hand. And table cloths; I hate them. This year we have table cloths and leaf shaped place mats. And the noise, noise, noise! Screaming grandchildren that are so excited to see cousins that they haven't seen since...last weekend!

We spend hours cooking and preparing. Well, mostly it's all done by my oldest daughter because she is a control freak. Anyway, all the work and then we sit down and in less than half an hour it's over. OK, so maybe we laugh a lot, mostly at Harry to embarrass him in front of his girlfriend. We remember old times and family members that aren't with us anymore.

Then the battle over who's going to do the dishes starts. It takes almost as long to do the dishes as it did to cook the dinner. Although, again, there is a lot of laughing, mostly at Harry because

he's the youngest.

Finally it's time for dessert. This year most opted for ice cream. I know, weird, huh? Then people start gathering up kids to go home. Trying to find shoes, blankies, the dog's leash, and toys.The kids cry because they don't want to go. Those left gather around the table to play Apples To Apples, and there's more laughing.

We still haven't planned our strategy for Black Friday, but that's OK because it's only Wednesday and we will do this all again tomorrow, which is actually Thanksgiving. Yep we do it all twice. What started out as Thanksgiving on Wednesday night and leftovers on Thursday so we could go to the movies has turned into two complete meals. But we do get to go to the movies.

So, although I'm not a big fan of the dinner part of Thanksgiving, I am a huge fan of the family part. I am so grateful that all of my kids live close enough to come to Thanksgiving dinner and they like being together. So I put up with the cooking, the tablecloths, the screaming kids, the mess and the clean up.

But now, let's move on to Christmas!

Street Fireworks and Swimming Under Water

Around here, the 4th of July is a big deal. Dave's family goes to the parade. We decorate the backyard with red white and blue. Everybody wears red white and blue. Sabrina and I make a red white and blue dessert ( this year it was star shaped cakes with - you guessed it - tons of red white and blue frosting). This year we decided to do pizza instead of the traditional BBQ so no one had to get hot slaving over hamburgers and hot dogs. But I don't know, I kinda missed 'em.



We swim and lay in the sun and swim and squirt water and swim and have little sea battles and swim and try to dunk Harry. This year it was extra fun because we bought a disposible



underwater camera so we could take pictures under water. It was fun but harder than you would think to see through the view finder under water, to hold still long enough under water, and to catch the kids before they either floated past or went up for air.



It was so fun to get the pictures today and see the ones that came out - I especially like the picture of Andrew under water with his eyes open (under water is very new to him).

But really the best part of the 4th is the street fireworks show. We spend way too much money on fireworks but it just makes the whole day worth it. Dave and Harry get them ready. We set up chairs, wrap up in quilts and oooh and aaah as though we were in Disneyland - even though they're just fountains up on a ladder. This was Baby Kelly's first year and she thought they were great!



I can still remember the 4th of Julys from my childhood. It was always such a fun day waiting for it to get dark enough to light Sparklers. As I post these pictures of my kids and grandkids it seems that not a lot has changed.

P.S. There was only one thing missing this year-Roko. He was in Utah with his parents (Mark & Kelly) at a wedding.