4th of July Highlights

I'm a bit late with this, but oh well...so goes the days of a new mother.

We spent the weekend of the 4th in Dewey, OK, at The Colonel's family reunion. Once we finally got there on Friday afternoon (just in time for lunch, thank goodness!), we had a great time. The drive down was a little frustrating with a screaming 3 month old, and NO towns to stop at to rest of grab a snack. We ended up on some farmer's dirt road so that I could feed the boy. Luckily things only got better.

Here are my highlights:

1. The first injury of the weekend belonged to NOT one of the bazillion kids running around, but to The Colonel. After only 3 hours at the reunion, my hubby was crouched down on the ground with a dislocated shoulder! It's an old injury that crops up every few years...or every time the almost 39-year old goes up for a lay-up. He yelled for his EMT dad instead of me, but I saw the commotion and ran over there. MIL said I was almost as white and pale as he was. The good news is that once he stood up, it went back into place, and we took that time to go check into the motel and rest for a bit.

2. There were many many more injuries over the weekend, and we are only lucky that The Colonel wasn't injured again because it wasn't long before he was playing BBall again (with his right arm, he told me). Many of the kids left with more bumps and bruises than they came with, too. You KNOW Ellie is hurt when she actually cries, and I think that happened 4 times! Crazy kids.

3. Before all the injuries happened, The Colonel got his first introduction to Wii...and I'm proud to say that I kicked his butt at golf until I had to stop to feed the baby.




4. Jayme, Crystal and I worked on a video slideshow of Gary and Kim for their funeral. Unfortunately, most of the family didn't get to see it because they showed it before we all got in there. We took time to watch the video as a family and to pray for continued healing for all of us.

5. We also had a rowdy game of Catchphrase. There are a few new family jokes from that game! It was a lot of fun.

6. After some family singing on Friday night, a lot of people headed off to watch the town's fireworks shows. But, the old fogies/new parents (that would be The Colonel and I) headed back to the motel instead. And we were rewarded with a boy who slept through the ENTIRE night without waking up. 8.5 hours! Woo hoo!! (Too bad we haven't been able to replicate that - but, we're still working on it)

7. The next morning, after a yummy pancake breakfast, we had the all-popular auction. Unfortunately, Uncle John, our pro auctioneer (for real!) and Laura's dad, couldn't be there, but we had a great time anyway. The Colonel's art project sold for high dollar, as usual, and I stocked up on some gifts and some fun items.



8. After the auction was the kids' pinata. Another annual tradition. The kids line up from smallest to biggest (Lil Major included) and take whacks at the pinata until candy and toys fall from the sky.



Our drive home was painful again, but we chose another route that took us through more towns. I just pray that this kiddo starts liking his car seat better VERY SOON!

Hope you all had a great 4th. We sure did (injuries excluded!)!