Happy Birthday, America!

We spent the 4th of July with some family. First we started off at my Great-Aunt's (my dad's dad's only sister) family farm just over an hour away. A and R had fun fishing with Daddy and some of their cousins. Then R and M got to spend some time in the pool with others while A kept fishing.

R never called me in time to take any pictures of the fish she caught. Below is the first one A got by herself. What a big one!

We had a delicious lunch and a wonderful time visiting with extended family. There were 4 generations at this gathering. We get together with this group 2 times a year. Once around Christmas and then on the 4th of July. My grandfather has just the one sister. Both of their spouses have passed away. My grandparents have 4 children (one has passed away) and my great-aunt has 2. They have 8 and 4 grandchildren respectively. All but 2 are married with children of their own. My grandfather has 14 greats as of now and my great-aunt has 8 greats. Needless to say, when we get together we are a BIG group. It is so much fun.

We did not get a group shot this year, but here is one of my Granddaddy and My Great-Aunt. I love them both so much!

Here is M and her cousin Mo. They are the youngest ones (one on my side and one on my Great Aunt's side). Mo is 2 1/2 months older than M. They are technically 3rd cousins (I think) since they are in the same generation. However, we don't worry about that...a cousin is a cousin. They will grow up together and we cannot wait to see what the future holds for them all.

Then we went to my mom's sister's house for a LONG overdue family gathering. Not everyone was able to make it (my mom is one of 5 children), but we had a blast anyway. We ate ourselves silly, watched a parade, went swimming and shot off fireworks. The kiddos had a great time. Some of the adults stayed up LATE to play guitar hero and dance, dance revolution. I think some of them realized just how yound they are NOT.

In this picture below, my nephew, K, was supposed to be in timeout. However, M does not understand that, yet. So, she just sat down right next to him. I tried to take the picture when she laid her head onto his shoulder. He then put his arm around her and said, "M, you are my best friend." It was so cute. But when they saw the flash on my camera, K looked up and started saying "CHEESE". The funny part is that any other time, K, really would rather M not bother him. He likes his space, and M likes to get into that space any chance she gets.

We had so much fun that we cannot wait to do it again next year.