July 4th Weekend

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Friday James worked so the kids and I went out to Berryville to watch a firework show. It ended up being pretty neat... people bring their own and shoot them off on the beach there then the VFD does some big ones! Plus, there were other areas having shows that we could see all around the lake. The boys really enjoyed it!

Saturday when James got off, we went out to his Mom & Al's house for a swim party. It was a lot of fun. Nelson & Henry got to swim most of the day with a couple of other little boys that were there. We got to visit with Al's kids which was really nice. I'd like to get to know them more. We had a hard time getting the kids out of the pool to eat. When we finally got Henry out, he consumed HALF a chicken, literally. And it was not a small chicken. Al injected it with a jalepeno butter marinate then deep fried it like some people do turkey. Henry LOVED it. He loved it so much that he carried the carcass around chewing what he could get off of it (yuck). Nelson did great swimming. He kept his floaties off most of the time. Us "big kids" played a game of water volleyball.. my first time.. and it was really fun too!

On Sunday we drove to Arkansas. A very dear aunt of Debbie's... James' great Aunt Sissy... passed away. She has been ill for some time now so it was expected but sad nonetheless. James spent a lot of time with her during his childhood summers. She lived in Texas back then but they made many trips to Arkansas to see his Nanny and other family and to fish. The country up there is beautiful and the lake .... I took some pictures but they do not do it justice. Even under the circumstances we had a nice visit. Nanny and the rest of the family, Uncle Bubba, Aunt Kim, Courtney & Chelsea, hadn't seen Nelson since he was 8 months old and had never met Henry. The boys took right up to them. James and I both regret not making more of an effort to go see everyone before now. I expect that we will go back again soon. It was so good to see everyone, it's really a great family. I hate that I didn't get my camera out sooner... there's not pictures to show of everyone... only the lake! After the viewing we went on back home. The drive wasn't as bad as I thought, it only took 3.5 hours.

So this morning.... James had to head in to work and the kids and I slept in. It's been a couch potato kind of day. Thankfully, James has been slow at work so he and Eric were able to come by and do a little project (new phone jack in the living room) and have lunch with us.

Well, here are some pics for you! Enjoy!