We Love This Country

Happy 4Th of July week!!! It is hard to believe that we are at the point in summer that we are celebrating our country's Independence. I love this Holiday but it also marks the half-way point of summer. That is a bummer. However, we've been so busy that we have been thoroughly enjoying the Summer of 2011. Starting on July 1 we began celebrating the long Holiday weekend. The kids and I, along with the Kuck kids and Jen, and Uncle Justin headed to Hilliard to get on a COTA bus and meet up with Shawn and Barry downtown. It was and adventure. It took us two hours but we finally arrived at High and Broad streets. I'm not sure how folks who take COTA on a daily basis don't get frustrated. We sure did but... We told the kids we were going on an adventure so to have lots of patience's. They did their best! We went to North Bank Park and ate dinner at the NiSource party. Then we walked along the river to the NiSource parking garage. Where from the roof-top we watched, in person for the first time, Columbus' Red, White and BOOM! While we have seen it on TV many times, I must say in person was a sight to behold. The kids loved it!! Our view was amazing. The traffic getting out was a hassle and the kids fell asleep in the car. We had Saturday to our selves. It rained in the morning allowing us recuperation time. In the afternoon we took the boat out and the kids went tubing and swimming. We finished the day with a ride in the Laguna for dinner.

Saturday we went to our friends, the Rausch's for a pool party. The kids swam all afternoon!! We adults indulged in the pool also, and a few beverages. That night we hit our friends, Homan's, annual 4th of July party. Concluded with fireworks on the lake at dusk. Whewww... We were tired and ready for bed. We docked the boat at our friends, the Jones'. Sunday we took the boat out of the water and gave her a much needed bath! That night we went to Bret and Brenda's for their party. I took Sparklers with us and the kids had a ball doing those. We had a fabulous weekend!! Thanks to all for your hospitality!!!

Our lake's fireworks. This is one of the better ones I was able to get. Or maybe Jen did. We were both playing with my camera.

Not only have we been busy celebrating our great country's birthday but Shea attended the Columbus Zoo's week long Zoo Camp!! She absolutely loved it and wants to go back next year. It has only taken me three years to convince her to go. I'm SO glad she liked it. She would go with a group of kids; Kendall, Kenlee and Garrate. We had a nice car pool set up. On Friday, the kids were only there for three hours. Will and I hung out at the zoo. He wanted to see every Monkey in the place. I had to oblige him...

The Gibbons are always "monkeying around".

We are also still busy this summer with Coach-pitch baseball. Our season ends this Saturday. While I'll be glad to have our week nights back, Shea is liking it and continues to improve. As are all the kids on the team. Last Thursday every kid on our team was able to get a hit!!! We were all so proud of them. I had to hand the camera over to Shawn to take pictures. It's hard to coach first base and take pictures at the same time. Although, I did for this one photo...

On June 24th, Cars 2 came out in theatres. It was a rainy night so we decided to go the following night and go to the Drive-In!!! The Weiner's, Kuck's and us made it! The Wolford family said the line was too long to wait in. The movie started a 1/2 hour late to accommodate all the traffic coming in. It was the first time our kids were experience this "old fashioned" way of viewing a movie. I popped our own popcorn, took other snacks and drinks- just as my Mom used to do for us! The kids watched it from the back of our truck. We had lots of blankets!! They loved it! While the movie was a three out of five stars... The experience was the best part!!! We want to go again.

Check out the sun set on our way to the drive in. We've had a lot of really pretty sunsets. I wish I would have captured last nights... Oh well, there are more summer nights ahead.