My Vacation

This was the most interesting 4th of July celebration that I have ever experienced. The high was only 75 degrees and it was overcast. I think it kept a lot of people at home. However, Stuart, Michelle, Jacob, and I had a great time. There are some floats that haven't changed since I was a little girl. Every year the parade begins with flags being carried by the sheriff's posse. Other regulars include the high school cheerleaders on the fire truck, the marching band, and of course my favorite Dr. Long on his riding mower.

You can't really see it, but he is pulling over 30 red wagons behind the mower. Growing up there were only about 8 or so. Each wagon carried one of his grandchildren, and the last wagon always had a sign in it that said "future crop". Some where along the way he began including friends in the procession. It is a town favorite and it was really funny to see everyone pull out their cameras when he came driving by.

A new float in the parade was by HEB, which is our local grocery store. I don't even know how tall this shopping car was. I can tell you that they were able to go under the stop light that was just down from where we were sitting.

While the parade was fun, I also had a great time with my family. Stuart's birthday is actually tomorrow, the 11th, but we managed to throw two different parties for him while I was home. The first one was Friday night and Jacob and I made cupcakes. Here is Jacob pre-cupcake:

And here he is post-cupcake:

On Sunday afternoon/evening we had Stuart' second party. (For that one I made cheesecake, but there are no pictures. Trust me it was good!) This was also the first time that I was able to see Roger and Alisa. Jacob made sure that we all went swimming that evening.

Jacob has turned into a little fish this summer. He will jump to anyone and has no fear of venturing into the deep end. He even will put his face in the water. We still need to work on closing our mouth so that we don't drink the pool, but overall I was really impressed.


Something strange happened when we were all in the pool, but it was like we were all kids again. Between the dunking and shooting each other with water guns, it was insane...but it was fun! Roger decided to challenge Alisa to a little contest with one of the noodles. The winner got the other wet. He lost every time.

I have some other pictures, but these are the highlights. Obviously I took all of these and I hope to get some from Michelle that actually have me in the pictures. I will post those as soon as I get them.