Happy 232nd Birthday America!

This past weekend we had a great time hosting our family reunion / BBQ. It's become a fun family tradition that we started about 4 years ago. Over the past few years we have had as little as 8 people and as many as 25. Either way we enjoy it and have a great time.

This year we greatly missed a few family members who were unable to come due to sickness or vacation plans. Next year we hope that everyone can come!

Since my nephews were sick, it meant we only had three little girls for the party. H, J, and my niece Becca (who is J's age). Those girls were like three peas in a pod and they had a blast all weekend.

On Friday they all swam and played at Grandma S.'s house while Bob and I attended a party at our friend's house. On Saturday they all swam and played at our house, then we BBQ'd that evening and had yummy chicken and corn with strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Then my Mom offered to have the girls spend the night at her house (where my brother Matt and niece Becca were already staying). So they had a sleepover at Grandma's, then went to Sunday school in the morning before coming back home just in time for the family reunion.

It was nice to hang out two nights in a row in the evenings on our deck with my brother in law Aaron and his wife Glenna. Just hanging out, having adult conversation and a couple of drinks and sharing some laughs. It was really nice. (Only problem was that I stayed up WAY too late both nights and was exhausted!)

So anyway, let's get to the pictures ... our yard with flags hung in celebration.
Yahoo for the RED, WHITE and BLUE!!
A family photo. We all dressed in white shirts and tan shorts for a group photo (the whole group photo is a new tradition we started last year)... those are on Matt's camera so I'll have to add those later when I get them. Glenna and AaronH, Becca and JHaving fun! Those are bubble containers!
We played some relay games ... this is J doing the hula hoop part of the race...
H doing the "Happy 4th of July" part of the race ...
Daddy doing the hula hoop ... woohoo, look at that hip action from my honey!!!!
Grandma S does the hula hoop too! The kids swam in the pool after playing a fun pool game ...
Then they showed off their super cool sunglasses that they had decorated ...
J looking very patriotic ...
And H too ...
By the time everyone went home we were all pooped ... even Casey who had chased and played with Aaron and Glenna's dog 'Bette' all weekend long.