Red, White & Whieu - another great weekend!

Well, here I am. Late with the blog again. I try to be one of those people who posts about fun and exciting stuff the day it happens, but I think I've come to terms with the fact that I'm pretty much a 3 days later kind of gal. Ah well, such is life.

We had a great holiday weekend spent with family and friends. Nick's sister and brother-in-law and family are moving from San Diego to Maine, due to a Navy relocation. They happened to be passing through (and dropping their kids off) at Nick's parents' house this weekend, so it was great to spend time with them. In fact, it was James' (Nick's BIL) first time to meet either one of our children. They quickly learned what a joker he is but fell in love with him anyway. And who can't love Aunt Melynda? (especially after she saves you from drowning - story for another day.)

Then on Saturday, Nick's brother and sister-in-law drove in from Arkansas, so the family reunion was complete. I honestly can't remember the last time all three siblings AND their spouses were in the same place all at once. And I had EVERY intention of getting a picture of all six of us, but that didn't happen. There's always Christmas. Maybe.

Carter had a blast at Nana & Jaja's house as usual. There was LOTS of swimming & jumping in the pool unassisted, four-wheeler rides, golf cart rides, fishing & playing with "my cuz-uns" as Carter calls them. Olivia had a blast too and, would you believe it?, this girl knows how to climb up stairs while you're not looking (talk about a heart-attack!). We quickly learned that the stair barrier had to go up and it won't be too much longer before she's getting into as much trouble as her brother.

"Uncle" Michael & "Aunt" Amber even came out to join us on Saturday. The guys played bean bag toss (isn't there another, more technical name for this game), we cooked out on the grill, there was more swimming and go-cart/four-wheeler/golf cart rides before some of the crew went into Rockwall to watch some professional fireworks display while others of us stayed behind. Then we had a blast with midnight swimming & driveway fireworks courtesy of James & the older boys, Benjamin & Zachary.

By the time Sunday rolled around, Carter made it extremely evident that it was time to leave and head back to a more familiar (aka childproofed) setting, so we headed home for some staycation detox. We were sad to see Melynda & James drive off to their newest adventure (and farthest to date), but in all honesty, it's what they do. Hopefully in a few years they can retire somewhere close and we can actually hang out more. A girl can dream.

(Usually I like to intertwine my pictures throughout my writing, but this is already long enough & I need to get back to work, so you're getting a photo-pallooza at the end of the post today. You're welcome.)

Helping Nana give ALL the dogs their annual shots (and by ALL, I mean, all 18 or so of theirs, plus all six of the grand-dogs that were there).

Hanging poolside, tongue out, as usual

Dakota just had puppies; these are three of the four, all boys.
Anybody in the market for a bullie?*

Golf cart rides with Jaja & cousin Grant, one of many.
(Just realized that had an unintentional double meaning:
one of many rides and one of many cousins, actually)

Carter would not, and I mean, WOULD NOT pose for a picture with his cousins. So we took it without him. Here, I'll show you:


See? I told you. WOULD NOT POSE. Wouldn't even stand still, actually.

*Yes, I realized most of you probably think I misspelled the word "bully", but I didn't. I'm referring to an English Bulldog "bullie", not the large kid in seventh grade that wants to steal your lunch money. Because, let's face it, who would want one of those?