He Graces:: Fourth of July

We decided to spend the fourth of July with Bob's family at their place near Branson.
Leaving town a few weeks ago, moving, then preparing to leave town again certainly kept me on my toes. Or on my face, but whatev. Actually, right before we left I stopped myself and had one of those internal self chats. It went something like this:
self- "calm the hell down. this is life. It's not perfect, but it's yours, so enjoy it for what it is. And for heaven's sake, be nice to people."

My self-chat paid off and we had a great trip. In fact, we had our best drive to Branson to date (if that's even possible). Bob took a new route that lead us through a portion of the original route 66, which was quaint and peaceful. And for the first time Bob and I discussed our new home with excitement (we had signed contracts right before we left town).

I feel quite lucky to have these lake places to visit. The majority of my childhood was spent going to the lake, so watching my kids create similar memories makes my heart swell to astronomical proportions. There's just nothing like the smell of lake water and a charcoal grill. And I hope when my kids are grown with families of their own those scents bring a rush of sweet, sweet memories. Just like it does for me.

His first ride all by himself!

Meet Spike. Bray's pet for the weekend. Bray made him a cage, fed him lettuce, and gave him a pool. Then the mosquitos came and ate all of us alive, so we freed Spike and stayed inside the rest of the weekend, nursing our wounds. The end.