4th OF JULY WEEKEND

 We had the Meyers down for 4th of July weekend. 

 Madison driving the Scarab to go out snorkeling.

 (I swear Kaki was there, she just skipped the boat and avoided all the pictures.)

 It was a little murky, but we went to a really shallow reef and Madison had lots of fun taking underwater pictures.

 Madison and Mandy.

 Trying saying Cheese with a snorkel in your mouth.

 Hi Ya!

 Driftin' away.

 Floating behind the second island. 

(Some tubing, some swimming, just hanging out!)

 Found a huge starfish!

 Everybody got a turn holding it.

 The release picture is just full on dupey.

 Terry, Madison and Mandy tubing. 

My babies pass out on boat rides.

Playing with cousin Ellie.

Photo Bomb.

Riding the HX.

Gosh, I love that machine!

4TH OF JULY

I wish I could tell you that this picture was on purpose.

We bought 4th of July flowers, thanks to Publix.

While the men folk were working hard on the fence, We went to Gigi's to watch the Whispering Pines 4th of July parade.

We skip the crowds at the park by watching from her driveway.

How many other mommies out there reuse the Memorial Day outfits for 4th of July? Who's with me?

When you're the best of friends...

The audience (Front row: Sam, Ben, Kayla, Maddie, Joey. Back row: Nancy, Trini, Doyle. Not pictured: Gail, Wayne.

They really have some cute entries.

Joey played with Maddie at Gigi's for a bit while I took Sam home for a nap. Then we went over to the park to take part in those festivities, and Mommy won a certificate for breakfast in one of the raffles! Just when Joey was going to have to leave, we ran into Mat & Mandy and she got to stay with them. After playing at their house for a bit, we all met up at Kaki's house for some swimming. This was Joey's power nap on the way.

Kaki's new pool float.

Mom-Mom's 4th of July/Christmas shirt.

Great photo bomb by Tom.

Watching the Black Point fireworks, parked on the side of the road so we could miss all the traffic.

ALL GUSSIED UP

Joey discovered recently that Sam makes a great living doll.

Sam loves being in Joey's room and will let her do anything to her, so long as it's in Joey's room. 

Sam got all gussied up and got to play with Joey's toys that she normally isn't allowed to.

 Fun was had by all.

A LESSON IN RESPONSIBILITY

Joey had a lesson in responsibility this morning.

She left the patio door open, and Cassie came running inside.

 (We didn't know there was a thunder storm coming, but Cassie had already heard it and had decided it was worth coming inside, even though she knew she was gonna get a but whoopin' for it.) 

Cassie proceeded to to run scared through the living room, peeing a little here and there as she went, partly because of the coming thunderstorm, and partly because I was trying to catch her and put her back outside and she knew she was gonna get a butt whoopin'.

Joey cleaned every one of our rugs, by hand, with a kitchen sponge and Resolve carpet spray. 

Yes, it was an accident. And I understand that. But you are still the responsible party. And you are going to clean up the mess that you caused, even if it was an accident. 

Now if I could only have a morning, I swear it would only take one morning, with some of the asshole adults we have running around this city.

AND THE PARTY GOES ON AND ON...

Sam and Romolo, checking each other out, while Sam gets stripped, hosed and dressed for the pool.

We had a kiddie pool for the babies.

 Sam just couldn't believe that she was allowed to stand in the bathtub and splash as big as she wanted to!

 Romolo thought the water was a little cold. 

Armed and Dangerous.

 Adorable birthday outfit, take three.

 Some pool parties have lifeguards in seats, we have grandmas on couches. 

 The grandpa's, meanwhile, were helping to make sure the family room couch didn't run away.

 "I'm queen of the mountain!"

PATTY CAKE

Why did we do Misha's?

Well, besides the fact that their cakes are fabulous, Publix didn't have a Mickey or Minnie cake. They have bunches of other choices, Pirates and Princesses, but we wanted Minnie. So they lost our business.

 Dude, where's my cake?

 Sam can't be bothered for a picture, she has a cake in front of her!

 She was so careful and neat in the beginning. 

 She quickly found out that the icing was good.

 Real good.

 She shared so nicely with Daddy.

 And then smeared it ALL OVER Mommy!

 And shoved handfulls in my mouth.

Playing Patty Cake with the Birthday Cake!

 Started to slow down here...

 Until passing grown ups started to swipe bites of her cake. 

That gave her a second wind and she dove back in!

 That's when Mommy pulled the plug on this show. (I was afraid she really would eat it all!)