the week that was ...

i mentioned last week

that my family spends the

week of july 4th aaallllll together

at my parents' river cottage ....

i have 3 older brothers.

the oldest 2 are married & have 3 kids each,

my youngest brother

is a polygamist of sorts...

he's married to his fishing boat, deer stand, & duck blind.

then there's me & my mister

& our 2 kids.

{so that's 17 of us ... if you don't count

the fishing boat, deer stand, & the duck blind}

thought i'd give you a few of the highlights:

* probably the biggest event was when this happened ...

my 72-year-old father

decided he wanted to waterski.

i immediately went on record

that i thought this was a bad idea

& then broke out in a verse of

"jesus take the wheel"

because singing loudly seemed

more appropriate for the situation

than curling up in the fetal position & rocking back & forth

{being subtle is not my spiritual gift, apparently}.

mama was in full support of the idea &

told us all that

"if george bush can jump out of an airplane

on his 80th birthday, then your daddy can waterski!"

{which was not a comfort, at all}

& whatdoyaknow!!!

my daddy did it!

lesson learned?

daddy will do just about anything

to prove us all wrong

& the old guy's still got it!

* then mama had fun teaching some

of the younger kids to make "real" biscuits.

they were amazed

that an exploding can was not involved

in the entire process, i'm sure!

the granddaughters repaid her

by trying to teach her how to play cups

{which is not a drinking game, although it kinda sounds like one}.

& let me tell you,

there's nothing like waking up

to fists & solo cups slamming repeatedly

on the kitchen table at 7:00 in the morning!

* one of our family traditions

is going to the croaker festival every year

during our week together.

& every year it feels like the hottest day of the year

& the humidity is usually a comfortable 99.9%.

it keeps me close to Jesus

because it's such a great reminder

how miserably hot hell is going to be.

BUT this year was beautiful!

we found a nice shady spot &

the breeze was just right...
{i just hope my relationship with
the Lord doesn't suffer
because of the comfortable weather!}

besides priss falling off of the pier,

a few inaugural jellyfish stings for the younger girls,

& listening to my oldest brother

tell the kids about having to

drink water from the sink when he was "comin' up"

because "we didn't have water bottles back then" ...

we all had a blast & lots of

fun memories were made!