Happy Birthday America!

 American Legion Babe!

 Cole is nearly impossible to photograph these days!

 Restrained by big sis!

 Happy campers!

 Gram & the girls at the Fowler parade!

 Look at all that candy!

 Mommy & Taryn at the fireworks.

 Sitting with Grandma Elaine @ the fireworks. 

 Fun at the Lake with cousins!

 Sparklers!

Dancing with Daddy!

 

We had a busy but fun 4th of July.  Lee was working nights, so he didn't get to hang with us that much.  Fowler does holidays right.  Very small town of them!  We went to the Legion and watched the parade go by.  Then we went home for a cookout with my uncle and his girls.  We went to the park and listened to the band and played on the kids' stuff.  My mom and I took turns in the beer garden.  Then we took Cole & Grandma Mary home and Taryn and I went off to watch the fireworks with Grandma Elaine and her family.  Finally, that Saturday Lee was off work and we took a trip up to Lee's brother's lakehouse.  Lots of fun was had for Taryn as well as some adult beverages after the kids were asleep!  And, as a special 4th of July surprise, Lee admitted to having a hangover the following day!  

Happy 4th of July

We had a rather busy 4th of July weekend. Friday we hosted a cookout for my family. It was planned a little bit last minute, but it came together nicely. Our yard is great for kids to run around in and our porch is decent to sit on. Lee sprayed for mosquitos and we had OFF on hand, so it was decent.

Saturday we went up to Lee's parents' house on the Lake. Zach & Elise joined us and we also had cameo visits from Jamie & Garret and our friend John and his family. It was a good time that was capped off with a late night boat ride and of course some beer. Zach was very disappointed because we only let him set off two of the "big" fireworks since the babies were sleeping. They were really loud!

Sunday we hung at the lake some before coming home to relax around the house. Today we drove over to my classroom to try and get some things arranged (more on that later). And tonight were swim lessons.

It was a great weekend, but now it is back to the grind... Boo!

Happy 4th of July

Yesterday we rolled down to Monticello, IN for the annual 4th of July celebration on "beautiful" Lake Freeman. Actually, I dumped Lee off at the lake and Taryn & I went in to Lafayette to hang with my mom. Since Taryn isn't allowed to wear sunscreen or be in the sun... And she is too little to wear a life jacket and go on a boat... There really isn't much for her to do at the lake. Which means there isn't much for ME to do either.

We had a good day with Grandma Mary** and had lunch at Pepe's. Mmmm. I had my first dacquiri in like 11 months and I think I got a little buzz!

I headed up to the lake in the evening and we had some friends over to watch the fireworks. They were your typical fireworks. I got Taryn to sleep before the fireworks started and she managed to sleep through them until 1am, which is a huge bonus! Everyone went to bed at 1am except for Lee who decided to go get idiotically drunk with the neighbors. We're definitely slowing down! Back in the day, 1am would find us on a booze cruise on the pontoon in the middle of the lake. Oh how times change.

Speaking of, there's a baby waking up and she's going to want to eat... NOW!

** Side story: My mom initially had some trouble realizing that she is now GRANDMA. So, when Taryn was first born she kept referring to herself as Aunt Mary. That finally progressed to Aunt Grandma. I think now she has finally figured it out and she just refers to herself as Grandma!

Miracle!

I somehow just found some pictures from the 4th of July that I thought had been deleted. Something about this card that came with my digital camera is WEIRD! I am using the card from my old camera now, so hopefully we'll be ok!

Anyway, just wanted to share a few more pics!

Some serious bags action going on here.

Dave & Grant sharing a seat on the cooler on the way to the sandbar.

Garret is actually drinking a beer!

Me & Gracie, my daughter for the day. (It's great because I can give her back when the fun is over!)

This picture is just hilarious. Drew was throwing a fit and laying on the floor and Grace came over and stepped on him. Look how happy she looks to be stepping on him.

FAN-tastic Fourth!

Lee was home for the Fourth, so we headed down to his parents' house on Lake Freeman in Monticello, IN (home of Indiana Beach). We had lots of folks there including all the grandkids, Lee's brother Matt & sister Sonia, my mom, Jamie & Garret, Grant, Sohail, Justin & Jill Widmer, Zach & Elise, Stafford and Drew. We drank some beer, grilled out, and played some bags. In the afternoon we took the pontoon down to the sandbar. We ended up parking our boat next to 2 boats FULL to the brim of drunk teenagers grinding on each other to really sucky rap music. Surely we were never that annoying... Eh, we probably were. But at least we didn't listen to sucky rap.

That evening, we took the pontoon out again to watch the fireworks. We docked down by Zach's dad's lakehouse and watched the fireworks from the boat.



After the fireworks, we headed back out on the pontoon. Zach & Elise were with us for a brief amount of time before Zach needed to go home.

We picked up Justin & Jill at Jill's mom's lakehouse, then picked up Drew, Stafford and their crew at Drew's dad's lakehouse. (Gotta love how we all have family with lake houses! It really comes in handy!) We boated around for a little while, then headed over to a HUGE party on the lake. This house ALWAYS has parties. And it is always a really weird scene. There are young kids there, drunk 17 year olds dancing, people our age, then like 60 year olds. It is strange. But, they have a lot of booze and good music so, that's good enough for us!
The beer supply. Yum, Bud Light!

There were kids selling glow-in-the-dark bracelets & necklaces. Here are Sohail & Grant in the must non-heterosexual pic of the night.

Apparently the huge amounts of beer inspired everyone to double fist.

Lee laughing it up (while double fisting). Little did he know, he would be in the exact same shape in about 2 hours.

After the party, we got back on the pontoon and took everyone home. Here are Justin & Jill on the ride home.

When Sohail, Grant, Lee & I got back to Lee's parents, it was 3:30am... And we decided to play drinking games. Genius. After a few rounds of Disaster, Lee was totally done for asleep in a very uncomfortable chair. I just let him sleep there. He deserves to wake up with a crick in his neck... Darn no-hangover-getting-husband! The rest of us headed to bed at 4:30am.

And then the grandkids woke us up at 7:30am. Major ouch!