4th of July

We had a wonderful day for the 4th of July. It started early and lasted all day and into the night. I got lots of pictures of the daytime activities, but didn't get any of the fireworks. Ava decided that she DID NOT like all of that noise and I had to go in the house with her. She did enjoy watching from the windows, though.

First and most important (at least to the kids) was the giant waterslide. They had the best time! Even Ava enjoyed it, my kids are extremely daring, which is kind of scary when your the mother. Which is funny, because I am a big weenie, I don't like to try anything that might remotely end up in injury. Probably because I am very clumsy and always get hurt lol


The other little ones had their own water fun : )

This is my cousin Jenny's little boy Collin, he played with this waterhose for at least an hour!

Here are Ava and Collin enjoying some watermelon


Bubba(Stevie) and Eden, my cousin Carla's little grandbaby and my cousin Dawn's little girl, had fun splashing in the baby pool. Bubba was appropriately dressed : )
Eden had the best time taking the water from the baby pool and transporting it to the trashcan full of water balloons with a water bottle. You can keep kids busy forever playing with water.
All of the big people enjoyed sitting around and visiting. Most of us only see each other once a year on the 4th, so we have lots of catching up to do.

This is my mom with her oldest sister, Georgia. My mom is 57 and my Aunt Georgia is 78. My Aunt was the second child of 10 siblings and my mom was the baby. My Aunt Georgia already had one child when my Mom was born, as a matter of fact, my Aunt Linda and my cousin Gwyndolyn(Aunt Georgia's oldest) were born only 5 days apart!

As you can see, I didn't exactly get my top finished, I had a busier day Thursday than I expected and only got about 3/4 of the way done with it : ( I really wanted to wear it too! Oh well, I am gonna try to finish it today. That is my cousin Dawn's husband, Steve, behind me. We have our 4th of July celebration every year at their house. They have a beautiful new home that thankfully survived Hurricane Rita. The house was only like a year old when the hurricane hit and they didn't know for several days if it was destroyed. Everyone still remembers and talks about Hurricane Katrina, but Rita hit the Western side of Louisiana a few weeks later and was just as devastating. Most of my Mom's family is from a *very* small community called Johnson's Bayou on the Louisiana coast and it was practically wiped out.

Here are Dawn's son Noah and Parker taking a break from the waterslide.

Oh, and we have a new(temporary) family member. This adorable little kitten was on our back patio Thursday. Stray animals seem to always find their way to me. I guess they know I can't turn them away. Dh is not quite as in love with animals as I am though, I am lucky to have the dog and two cats. So, we are going to have to find her a good home. She is sooooo sweet though, it will be hard to give her away. My animals are as unhappy as my dh is to have her in the house, as you can see, Zsa Zsa just hisses at her. We have named her Zoey.