4th of July Family Fun

I had the chance to get together with my brothers and sisters over the 4th of July in Ohio. While the flights turned out to be a bit of a drag the adventure overall was great and I am really glad I went.

This is the view I woke to every morning. They had a pond dug in their back yard several months back with the expectation that it would take years to fill to a reasonable level for use. Well, with all of the rain they have been having...

This is my sister "Shrish" aka Crystal. I could not pronounce her name as a small child so it came out as Shrish and it has stuck ever since. As you can see, the rains have filled the pond quite nicely so she and our cousin Paige decided to take a nice dip...

while our newest addition to the family, my brother in law Ric enjoyed the view and watched from the shore.

We did lots of visiting and lots of eating. While we did venture off the sprawling acres of Alice & Gerry's estate I did not manage to take a single picture. We were able to enjoy 4 towns fireworks right from their driveway because outside the front door is nothing but wide open fields. So in the absence of pictures from the rest of Clayton, OH please enjoy more from their gorgeous yard and some of the family in general.

Next time I am hopeful that B and maybe even S will come with me but given the sad happenings at the airport in Atlanta I am grateful they did not. The airport was shut down due to inclement weather and our filghts were delayed for over 8 hours. I could not imagine having to entertain my sweet little girl for that many extra hours in an airport or when we were stuck on the tarmac in our plane. It was rough enough on my mom and dad. Oh and poor Shrish and Ric were stuck overnight in Atlanta and didn't make it out of there until late the next day. But like I said, airport drama aside the trip was great and we are all looking forward to getting together again in a few years.

I hope that you all had a nice 4th of July and were able to spend it with family and friends. I also hope that you all remembered to say a nice thank you to those who are and have been serving our country so you may continue to have your freedoms. I am grateful to come from a family chock full of military service. Mainly my family is Air Force but we have a few in other branches as well so I would like to take a quick moment at this time to thank them all from the bottom of my heart for the sacrifices they have made for me and you!

God Bless America!