The 4th and Beyond

My precious little firecracker.

The holiday weekend is over and it's back to regular every day life. Our 4th was nice, but I almost hate to say, I'm glad it's over. It just gets to be busy and hectic and loud and I look forward to the calm and quiet. We had rain on Friday, so everything was very wet for Saturday, but there was no more rain. It was just very chilly. The fireworks out over the lake were great, and we sat on our peninsula and on our boat for the perfect view, while we shivered under sweatshirts and blankets. We have the most ideal fireworks viewing spot on the lake and we've had some pretty good 4th of July parties in the past. This year, though, was a little bit low key, which was actually nice. It was just the family, but of course my son Brandon wasn't here as he has already moved to Spokane. Diana, his wife, was only here with Riley for about an hour as her grandfather is very ill and her family spent the day at his home with him. My dad also wanted to bring Grandpa over from the nursing home to enjoy the family for a few hours. Grandpa loves being around the kids and family and eating food other than nursing home food. Grandma wouldn't let him leave her. My dad was so upset with his mother about this. Grandpa is 93 and his mind is failing, but is physically in very good shape. Grandma is the opposite. Also 93, her mind is sharp as a tack, but physically she is very bad. She can't do anything on her own, weighs 75 pounds and is in constant pain which so far the doctors can't find a real reason for. Grandpa is not allowed to help her in or out of bed or to the bathroom because they both have been know to fall down when he does this. But no matter, she doesn't want him out of her sight. It's a very sad situation all the way around for everybody. And then Logan, my 4 year old grandson, ended up with strep throat and so he only came for a short time in the evening to see the fireworks. He loves the water and swimming. I felt so bad for him to miss out on the day. It was not one of our best 4th of July celebrations, but we still enjoyed the family and the day that we had.
I should knock on wood or something when I say this; it hasn't rained since Friday. YEAAA! It's been very nice, although not real warm. About 70 degrees and sunny. Austin, my oldest son the Air Force Recruiter, had Monday off, so he brought Logan out to swim in the lake. Logan is feeling much better and he really wanted to swim. He's only 4, and never goes in the water without his swimmy vest, but I really want to get him into swim lessons at the YMCA.
Last night, my neighbor and her step-daughter had a jewelry party I went to. It was "Stella and Dot" jewelry. I had never heard of it before and it's very nice, I just didn't need any more jewelry. I got a sweet little key hole heart necklace just because I felt obligated to get something. It was very nice to get together with 9 other women and sit on the patio and small talk, so it was worth it.
Today Dee and Riley came back from their last 2-1/2 days in Pittsburgh with her parents. I miss little Riley when I don't see her for a couple of days. The day I leave them in Spokane to finally be in their new home with Daddy, will be a very hard day for me. We won't think about that yet.
I took my little black poodle, Ellie Mae, to the vet first thing this morning for her annual teeth cleaning. She is 10 years old and her teeth are very bad. She loses about 5 teeth every time I get them cleaned. She barely has any teeth left, but her breath smells a lot better. For now.