Hello everyone! I hope you had a great holiday weekend if you are in the U.S., or just a great past few days if not! We had a pretty relaxed few days, with the exception of our July 4th celebration with my family. We actually celebrated on the Monday instead of yesterday and it was nice to have yesterday as a rest day. Because we needed it!

I have not seen a few of my cousins or their families since the fourth of July party last year! My cousin has been hosting and his house is absolutely gorgeous and perfect for parties, and the day is just so perfect and filled with laughter. Wyatt (and by default Billy) spent hours in the pool, where the kids just swam and splashed and used squirt guns, while the rest of us adults caught up with each other in the shade. Other dads did duck in and out of the pool, as well as a few moms. I loved being able to hang out with my brother and cousins – we had an hour or so where it was just the five of us sitting around the table, chatting and laughing and remembering. And all the food!! So much food. Everything was delicious but my sister-in-law made some sort of ooey gooey peanut buttery thing and oh my gosh, it was amazing.

The weather was a bit unpredictable – we would have a few hours of straight sun, then a stray rain downpour would unleash itself on us all. The first few the kids just kept on playing in the pool, and the last one was just crazy and we all ran off for the various areas of cover. Billy and Wyatt and I ended up in the best spot – we headed for high ground and the pergola covered patio – also where all the food was.

Tiny Bebe girl met the next youngest little, my cousin Mike’s youngest son. Little kiddo was slightly alarmed to see his mom holding a different baby. Lol.

By the time we left, full of sun, memories, food, and pool time, we were exhausted and ready to clean up and put on our pajamas. It had been a fantastic day though.

Saturday and Sunday were so rainy! We did do some fun stuff over the weekend leading up to the holiday though, despite the storms that kept rolling through. Between the rain and the air quality (again ugh) we were stuck inside but we made good use of it, playing board games and reading and completing our tiny art for our library’s tiny art show!

I am not an artist but I had fun anyway. It was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon, painting our “submissions” to the show. Billy and I have a few details to add to our paintings but I will be turning them in later this week and they will be displayed in the library the whole month of August, along with everyone else who registered. From left to right – Wyatt’s sun and moon, Billy’s Panda King isopod, and my little brown snail. Lol.

All this rain has been good for the garden and the plants though!

We managed to squeeze in one bike ride before the rain and air quality got bad this weekend. And we took lots of drives and ate lots of watermelon.

And that was that! How about you all? What have you been up to?