table of plenty: the Relatives came!

One of my all time favorite children's books.

And the theme of our last week!

Jim's sister, Carla, her husband, Mark and our niece, Jenna make the long trek from Virginia to visit us.

We had a fine time together! It was a lovely 4th of July with them; our first at home ever.

We did bonfires:

We had picnic fun and swimming at Lake Harriet:

A lovely outdoor worship service on the 4th, which somehow I only captured as before shots on the playground nearby...perhaps because it would be tacky to photograph ourselves mid-worship? Yes. That's it.:

What I can't get to upload is Emma Kate swinging and singing at the top of her voice, "The sun will come out, tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there will be sun!"

Oh, so cute!

Fourth of July involves the annual family Olympics. We are big on silly, and our Olympics features such events as bubble gum blowing contest, water balloon toss, watermelon seed spitting and croquet. Prizes of utter nonsense are awarded.

This year winners walked away with such goodies as a can of garbanzo beans, a personal pack of kleenex {awarded for messiest contestant in the watermelon event}, a rock {for staying calm and helpful in the face of complete fools}. Basically, the hour before the Olympics the tradition is to run through the house and grab a bag of things and then come up with awards on the spot. It makes for fun and high hilarity. Just ask us!

Croquet involves awards given to Most Interesting and Creative hitter, Last to Arrive at the End, Cheater Extraordinaire, etc. My Dad and Mark could hardly stand the croquet event, as we aren't very serious. At least most of us are not. Apparently cousin Jenna needs to spend a bit more time learning our side of the family before we play games again so she doesn't have heart palpitations. We might be competitive, but we are mostly and all for fun and togetherness over winning. That's all I'll say about that. The boys are still laughing telling about Pa giving instructions from his adirondack chair on the sidelines.

Fourth of July fireworks were beautiful, as was the setting in which we viewed. We only walked three houses down and out onto a golf course to sit on our quilt in the evening's quiet under a canopy of trees where we beheld nighttime glory as the sky lit up with sparkles.

We wondered what Emma would think, as Anna's first two years home were spent huddled in my arms under blankets to muffle the booms!

This is the best I could do of a group cousins picture:

The big kids!

Jeb and Jenna are born days apart! Recalling that March thirteen years ago is such a joyful memory.

Adorable times two!

Daddy and his two girls! Notice Emma's hilarious expression!

They are kind of loud, and yet I still love giving everyone around me a running commentary even with my ears covered...

The adults had their own comfy version of firework spectating. Here are Carla and Mark enjoying the sky:

And then there was bowling. Always entertaining and great fun. I did my best to shake it up at the line {is that what it is called}. Each bowl deserved a dance, and we left some incredible dance moves at the lanes.

The menfolk arranging the womenfolk and children, surveying the bowling landscape: