The Fourth and Prior and Subsequent Days

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed a nice holiday weekend. I know I did. And today we in Washington State are officially welcoming summer. Today is the hottest day we've had this year (supposed to have a high somewhere in the 80s). And there are rumors that we could hit the 90s later this week. I, personally, am hoping that bit about hitting the 90s is just a vicious lie. But I guess I can't complain either way ;). Here it is July 6, and we've mostly been no higher than the 70s. Ahhhh. It's refreshing for the Nilla. Right now the view of Mt. Rainier is phenomenal. This is a gorgeous area -- especially on the clear days. But I digress.

I will back up a bit and tell of my weekend. Thursday night I went to Wendy's house along with Heidi and we had a fun girls' night. Wendy had made homemade macaroni and cheese (some of which she sent home with us, and I just finished off for lunch today). Very delish. I took the fixin's for a salad as well as sparkling grape juice, because I wanted something fun that wasn't soda, but I didn't have time to come up with some cutesie non-alcoholic beverage. And then I thoguht of sparkling grape juice. Perfect. And Heidi took some health-ified mini chocolate cheesecakes. And it was yummy. All of it. And we sat and talked a bit and watched Angels & Demons. Which meant I didn't have to wait to get it from the library. Decent movie, but I felt it didn't follow the book very well, and there was so much more in the book that was important that was pretty much just left out of the movie. But oh well.
Friday I worked and then went to Lea's at 6:30 for her son's birthday dinner. We ate chili dogs and strawberry shortcake. And then we watched the first 3 episodes of Glee, because that's what he got for his birthday, and I hadn't seen any of them, so they were trying to get me caught up. I so love this song all the time, and here it is performed on the show :). I left there around 10:30 and headed home.

Saturday was more work at the library and then shopping. Mostly just shopped to get the stuff for Monday, which was our family get-together for the 4th as well as my mom's birthday.

Sunday was choir practice and then church. After that, I walked with Sue and then watered my garden. Then we ate dinner and watched 1776. That is a wonderful movie. I have seen it many times over the years, because my mom has owned it on VHS and now DVD and we watched it a lot growing up. I know all the music (except that one dark song I don't like and I always leave when it plays). And I don't know how historically accurate it is, and I don't claim to be a history buff, because I'm definitely not one. But that movie has given me an interest in some of the characters of that time -- the people involved with the Declaration of Independence. And hearing some of the stuff in the movie makes me realize that this is, in fact, a chosen land. That God had His hand in the forming of it. The odds were against us, and yet we won. Gives me goosebumps to think of it. I also baked my mom's cake and started the application process for another job. One I doubt I'll get, but one for which I will apply anyway. After all that, I went down to my room and started watching the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I got tired, so I didn't finish it. But I laughed. It is hilarious.

Monday I woke up around 9:30 and started getting things ready to go to the state park. That is where we decided to have our bbq family thing. We pretty much all got there to the park around 11. We decided to grill near the playground so the kids could play and we could see them. It was chilly in the morning, but warmed up a bit as the day wore on. We weren't there for long, because Ben had to work. But it was really enjoyable. The kids are adorable as always. They had a lot of fun playing on the playground stuff. Emily is walking like crazy, though she wasn't so sure about the loose pebbles that were the ground for the playground. She also decided to feed me some chips. And there's no telling how many germs I ingested, since I know she's not particularly choosy about where she puts her hands (like in aforementioned pebbles) ;). But how do you say no to such cuteness? Saria is just getting more and more beautiful by the day. She is really growing up. Desiree is just super-sweet and enjoys playing with her cousins. Samuel and Benjamin had a great time too. Benjamin still kind of floats around doing his own thing and nothing much gets to him. Samuel likes when things go his way. (Maybe we share the same genes ;)?). So yeah, it was a lot of fun and neat for my mom to get to see all her kids and grand-kids on her birthday.
After that, my mom and I went home and I mowed the lawn and pulled weeds in my garden. Then, when I thought I was done, I went out front and saw my mom weeding one of the flower beds! So I helped her. And that one needed it! The weeds were choking out the roses. I don't know how those weeds grew so fast! We still have the other half of the yard to do, but at least we got half of it done. Then, just as I was getting ready to relax, Lea texted me to say she was ready to walk if I still wanted to. Phew... And so I did. I needed to walk, but man oh man I was tired from a long day ;). But it was a good walk, and then she invited me to stay for dinner and so I was there until 9:30 and even watched a hot-dog eating contest on tv courtesy of her husband. That was pretty disgusting, just fyi... Oh, so here are a couple of garden pictures, along with one of me after all the yardwork -- still smiling ;)! My tallest tomato plant is now up to my belly-button. And the birds keep eating my strawberries before they can ripen. Dumb birds. And I did include a picture of my headless flamingo support ;).

After I got home from Lea's and got a shower, I finished watching the movie from the night before and then I got ready for bed. And this morning it was back to the ol' rat race. But that's about it, in a nutshell. So for now, so long and thanks for all the fish ;)!