The key to enjoyment for Troy this holiday weekend was getting his jeep ready to drive. It's been in pieces, taking up space in his shop for the past year and he so hoped to have it ready by this point in the summer. My retired dad has been helping him by working every day at the shop to help get it back together. Troy was finally able to drive it home Friday night for our family get together, which put him in a much better mood. Which was key for me, because he is the person who does all the grilling! Here he is getting ready to grill with the jeep parked in our driveway at last:
He looks happy, doesn't he?
Alina has been gone visiting her cousin Kathryn in Overland Park for the past few days, we got her back on Friday too. Here the two of them (Kathryn and Alina) are together. They are 6 months apart in age, how great is that?
This would be Susan in the front, My dad in the ball cap, and Susan's Troy behind dad.
My sister Susan, her boyfriend Troy (this was his first visit to our house) and kids Dyson and Emily came. Mom and Dad, of course were here. And brother David, wife Lisa and kids Kathryn and Harrison were all here. I did not get pictures of everyone, I'll explain in a little bit.
Here are all the grand kids on my mom and dad's side: Dyson, Kalyn, Harrison, Kathryn, Alina and Emily. They were shooting off parachutes here. Susan brought really good night time fireworks too, but I usually only get pictures of them doing the daylight ones. Because my night time fireworks pictures are never very impressive in quality and besides, I'm usually pretty much parked in a lawn chair by that point, enjoying company and drinks.
Mom brought these cute little cheeseburgers. They are made of vanilla wafers (the top ones brushed with egg white and sprinkled with sesame seeds) red frosting, chocolate mint cookie, green colored coconut, and yellow frosting. When the food wasn't ready to eat yet, and Dyson was hungry, he asked me for one of the little hamburgers Grandma Linda brought. He wasn't happy at that point to learn that they were cookies! They did look real. Troy also grilled Italian sausages and real cheeseburgers. And mom had her usual flag jello cake here. Everyone got to ride around town in the jeep to see what was going on elsewhere (Sunset Manner had some good fireworks going on), and Troy and I got to take a ride too after everyone was gone.
Then on Saturday it rained, and rained, and rained.
Oh, so I'll tell you about my camera! Kalyn and I both have Sony Cybershots. They came with rechargeable batteries and chargers that you plug into the wall. Very handy. We have slightly different models but the chargers work with both of our camera batteries. I keep mine in a drawer in the kitchen but it simply disappeared the other day. So I asked Kalyn if I could use hers and she told me hers was also missing. Hmmmm. So.....here we are.......both of us loving to take pictures (I take pictures EVERY DAY) and low camera batteries. I knew I wouldn't be able to make it through the weekend without my battery dying. And it did, on Friday. So I didn't get all the pictures I wanted. I have none of my mom. Or of me, for that matter, but I'm always on the other side of the camera. People will just have to remember me from my Facebook profile pictures, there aren't any other ones out there.
Anyway, I looked for non-rechargeable batteries. But these are flat, square lithium batteries, not the cylindrical AA kind, and I can't find any. I looked up the chargers on Sony's website and they are $50.00!! I was getting ready to order one though, when I found Kalyn's charger under the futon while sweeping the floor later in the weekend. I swear she lost it first, borrowed mine, and left mine at a friend's house. But it's my word against her's. And honestly? She may have inherited her lack of ability to keep track of her things from me. Luckily, like I said, her charger works with both cameras. AND FROM THIS POINT ON IT WILL NEVER LEAVE THIS HOUSE!
Saturday night it stopped raining just in time for a neighborhood block party hosted by our neighbors, the Strong's and the McCully's. Very nice. And I hate it that I did not get a picture of Alina in her hot pink converse all stars, long baseball socks, cut off jean shorts, pink t-shirt banded at the waist, and sideways pink ball cap. Too cute! I may have her recreate it for a picture, because I'm sick like that. She played kickball there with her good buddy Clay, from school and the neighborhood, and a lot of other neighborhood kids. I got to visit with neighbors that I usually don't get to talk to. And I found out that most of them already know Alina, who rides her bike all over, and has been known to knock on the doors of people's houses asking for kids to play with. Hmmm.
Well, it's hard for me to discourage this behavior, because:
1) I love that she's not as shy as I was, or Kalyn was.
2) It is really cool that we live in a place that I can let her ride her bike around and not worry about her safety.
I have fond memories of riding my bike up and down the country roads where I lived, but she gets the chance here to see so many other kids along the way. It's a really good way to socialize, here in town. And I don't think she's bothering anyone too much.
On the 4th, Sunday, we pretty much felt partied out. Kalyn had asked to go to Girard Saturday night to watch their fireworks from the fair grounds and spend the night with good friend McKenna. I like to have Kalyn with us, but she's at an age when being elsewhere is just more fun for her. And it's okay. Like famous patriot Patrick Henry, who I think probably must have understood teenagers pretty well, once said: "Give me Liberty or give me death!" So I let her go. I also let her go to Lincoln Park on Sunday with her friends to watch the fireworks, since she had a ride and the event is simply too packed (traffic-wise) for me and Troy to enjoy. She had a fabulous time.
Cute picture of Kalyn, with Emily and Dyson.Here's what Troy and I and Alina did: We hit Lincoln Park in the jeep earlier in the day, to pick up some 4th of July style lunch from the vendors there and venture over to the car show where we knew my dad would be working. We ran into neighbors Frank and Barbara there, with their 1960 Ford.
This car is not restored, it was Frank and Barbara's first car, and it has been maintained very well over the past 50 years! That's the original interior, original everything. Not surprising, knowing Frank. Barbara still has her pink refrigerator and pink stove in her kitchen from when they were first married, too. They keep things nice. They are very nice people we are lucky to have living next door to us.
After a trip to the pool, which Alina had practically to herself, and back home for naps for everyone, we took the jeep out again. This time we drove up to Farlington Lake, the prettiest place around here! We drove around the lake, a couple times, and then down more country roads. Just enjoying the open evening air and vibrant green pastures, trees, gentle rolling hills, tall prairie grass and wild flowers in all their early July glory!
Alina fell asleep along the way. We drove down paved roads and gravel roads. Ending up at Helen's to check on her place (she's off visiting her sister, so Troy's been milking goats every morning!) before coming home around 9:00. We lit a fire in the fire pit and listened to the city fireworks. Which sounded impressive! Too many trees around our place to actually watch them. If I have a fire in front of me though, and a glass of wine, I don't need to watch fireworks.
Happy 234th Birthday America!!
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