"Ooohhhhh-Aaahhhh"

As much as I am not a summer person, I am always a bit sad to see the 4th of July over because I love it so much. I love the colors (even though I don't usually like red or blue), the patriotism and the way our family celebrates!

Unless there is really something amiss, we will be found in Gulfport at the home of our oldest daughter. It sits on the water and provides the most perfect way to celebrate this holiday without ever leaving home.

This year was no exception other than we were missing our youngest daughter's family. The tub above was her gift to the hosts and came in very useful as it stayed filled with lots of chilled wine throughout the day. They are in the midst of a huge renovating project that was supposed to end this week as well as a 2 week trip to visit in-laws out of state and trying to dry out after a pretty big flood thanks to Debby and another thanks to some majorly faulty plumbing in the kitchen! Too much to do, not enough time. And so, they made the decision to stay home and try to get some much needed packing and organizing done. We sure missed them...always more fun to see the fireworks through the eyes of small children....but we all understood and we all know where we will be found next year at this time. In the end, they were really glad that they made that decision as my son-in-law was hit by a nasty virus mid day and it seems to be going through the family now.





We all had a wonderful day-only family until about 4 when other family friends and neighbors start arriving. It is always such an eclectic group and since everyone brings some sort of dish, there is always tons of delicious munchies and food.

The Gulfport fireworks were the best this year-lots of shapes in the middle of the fire work-how DO they do that? And then, we are always treated by an after show. Just a few doors away, someone always starts their own show as if on cue from the end of Gulfports. And, I'm not talking about the kind of things you buy on the road side. These are the real deal and they literally go off right over our heads and rain down over us. It is truly magical! We end up sitting outside so long we might as well pull up a blanket and call it a night right where we are.




Always just an incredible day and one we never want to end. As my grand daughters remind me...YOLO...you only live once! Enjoy! Take time to smell the roses.

And so, that is exactly what I m doing this weekend. Middle daughter and 3 grand daughters came back with us for a visit. We got to play a few games, eat lots of forbidden food and talk and laugh the night away. They left yesterday afternoon and even though I should now be taking down my 4th decor, I am giving myself permission to breathe a bit. I am catching up on little things and getting some ducks in a row for the rest of the summer. As much as I dislike it, I am finding it is going a bit too fast even for me. We have our grand dog Hattie here with us for awhile as my daughter and family travel first to Napa Valley and then to St. Thomas. She is a big old lazy black lab so she and I make quite a pair. Together we will take time to smell the roses and enjoy our days. After all, YOLO. Stay tuned.