The 4th Of July

4th of July weekend was spent at my daughter's house in Wisconsin. We were there with some members of our family and a couple of LA's friends from Texas. We had a great time, but found that we were having a hard time keeping up with the kids. Joe caught the biggest fish. He was down at the lake hollering for someone to bring the net. He caught this 7 lb. catfish while sitting on the pontoon boat fishing at the dock. We had just watched "On Golden Pond" and I was teasing him about catching Walter. He's so proud of catching the biggest fish...This got us more in the mood to fish...we wanted to see if we could beat him, but we didn't. He did let him go. Well, not to be outdone...I caught one too. A perch that I could have filleted and eaten on a cracker.

Here is LA....she is the captain of the boat and took us on a ride over to a good fishing spot. It was really hot on the lake that late morning, so we didn't stay too long. I was so busy looking at nature...birds, frogs, turtles etc. Everytime I got my worm on the hook...I would see or hear something and had to decide if I wanted to fish or take pictures.

We saw this turtle sunning himself. Frogs were talking to each other...and I was mimicking them.I love this spot. I could spend half a day right here just looking.

A Heron flew up into the tree making his loud squawk. She has so many different birds. I love to come here and see all these "new to me" birds.

It was time to leave my favorite spot. We were hot and decided to go back to the house to see what was going on.

Here is Grandson Collin....still asleep on an army cot in the living room. He had been up late the night before...lighting firecrackers and watching the almost 2 hour show, that my son John provided. He carries on the family tradition of stopping at the firework store on the way and buying a bunch of them for his show. They set up a row of chairs and sit around the bonfire...eating s'mores and watching the show.

The leftover graham crackers were fed to the sheep. They looked hot, even if they had just been clipped.

They are so gentle....have such sweet faces. They all come running, when they see the kids.

Croquet was the game of the weekend. They love to play with Grandma. I always tell them that I have played longer than they have been alive. They were kind to me this time and didn't hit my ball into the lake. The lawn is a bit rough and hilly...so the course is up and down a little. A real challenge to play this game. We had a couple of games....with everyone giving each other a little "help"...lots of laughs and giggles. The prize was eating lunch with Grandma...

Here is LA giving some advise to Tyler, her nephew.

Here's Grandson Collin....putting his ball is just the right spot. They all try to beat Grandma...and they did this year. I came in 3rd this year. I love times like this...I can just sit and talk to the kids and ask their opinions about things and find out what they are doing what their interests are. I had a chance to talk to Collin about what he wants to do after high school.

Here's their Dad, John....watching to protect his croquet ball...so that it won't get knocked around the course by another opponent.

Here's my Grand daughter, Xoie...She's got her computer in this picture. She was in on all the games and even conquered her fear of water. She went in the water, off the boat and it was the first time she wasn't afraid to let go. It was such a pleasure to see all these kids out playing one thing after another and not sitting in the house with one of those hand held games or their phones. I don't have a picture of this, but the boys were shooting a pellet gun at a pop can target. Xoie picked up the gun and sat there in her dress with the gun at her shoulder...and shot the cans one by one. I sang my Dad's song about Pistol Packing Mama to her as she shot. She loved it.

Here we are grazing, as my daughter calls it... Everyone brought food and we had a table full of snacks to eat before our meal. Lots of healthy ones....half the crowd were vegetarians...so not much meat was served.

But, Tyler had to season the burgers. We had beef burgers and veggie burgers. I had never seen him cook before...he did a great job seasoning and grilling the burgers. The rest of us did a great job eating them.

Here are three generations at the grill. Poor Tyler got lots of advise. It didn't seem to bother him...he did a good job. Collin was scarce at this time. He loves to ride the scooter and was off on that heading down the road.

Well, it was time for dessert. John is known for his 4th of July desserts. He was working on this creation, when we came in the door. A cookie base, with coolwhip and cream cheese, then fruit on top. It was so yummy....we ate some again...just before we left the next day. I made him hold it and smile for the camera.

It was a great weekend even though some family members couldn't be there. As the kids get older, they have school, work and some of the adults had to work too. We missed them, but know that the next time we get together...we may all be together. They'll be there trying to catch a big fish, like Joe...or sending Grandma's croquet ball down the hill. We loved meeting LA's friends...theyfit right in with our family and told their stories as well. We hope to see them again. We always have fun when we get together. The kids love hearing the old stories passed down about their Grandparents and Great Grandparents, who are not with us anymore. We have so many stories and songs. We all try to keep these stories alive, by telling them over and over again, so the kids never forget. I can only sum up this weekend by telling something my sweet Grand daughter, Xoie said. She was playing croquet and said to no one in particular...I love my family.

Balisha