A Weekend Recap...

So, here's my DS 3 sans a lot of hair! He got it cut on Friday and decided to go ahead and go short. I like it very much. He's practicing his "chicken-neck" model pose here.

He, LG and I headed up to my hometown on Saturday for a little July 4th fun. It was great seeing the parade and enjoying the hometown feel of celebration.

We met my brother, SIL and their kids along with the grandparents and headed up to the golf course to stake out our seats.

It was fun to watch LG enjoy the parade. It's

not the first parade she's ever attended, but I am pretty sure it's the first fourth of July parade she's ever attended.

We had fun buying matching shirts to wear and preparing for the day. She helped me make pasta salad, strawberry pretzel dessert, beer bread and artichoke/ranch squares to take up there.

It was also fun seeing people that I haven't seen in years. And some I've seen but known for what seems like forever.

Here's one example...Keven, aka Uncle Sam, and

I have known each other since we were 4 years old.

We met in 1968 when we moved to the area. We lived only a few doors apart from his family. One of my early memories of Keven and his family is of his Dad, who's now gone, dressing up like Uncle Sam at the annual July 4th festivities.

I think it's neat that Keven is carrying on the tradition started so many years ago.

My Mom still lives in the area, as do my Dad and Stepmom. This is how I keep up-to-date with the goings on there.

After the kids caught all the beads they could handle (and then some) and bagged up their candy prizes, we headed back to my Dad's for a little swimming, food and relaxing until the fireworks.

DS 1 and DH came up and joined us for food. It was fun having DS 1 there since he hasn't really been around the entire family since Christmas! He has been home for the week and I've loved having him here.

When we headed out to the fireworks, I had to find somewhere I could watch them from the car. I cannot handle the loud noises. It's pretty embarrassing being 45 and sitting with your ears

plugged! So we parked ourselves on the golf course and were able to see them perfectly!

In fact, here's a shot that DS 3 got from INSIDE the car while we watched:

It was a perfect ending to a very fun day!

Wordless Wednesday--Reflections of July

Face Your Fears

DS 4 is a "fretter". He frets over things long before they happen. I don't know where he gets it...maybe his Mother...but he does it nonetheless. I have tried to help him see that what we worry about usually doesn't happen. We went scalloping this week. Some combination of my family usually goes to join my extended family at "The River" to go on this adventure in July each year.

Last year, DS 4 went, but he decided that he did not want to go "out"...so he stayed at the house and fished off the dock. He was not a confident swimmer then and has only begun to develop into a more able swimmer recently. Still, he has been fretting over scalloping for this year since early Summer. We have been talking about this trip for quite some time.

So, as the week rolled around, the fretting escalated. He told me on the way up there, "Mom, I don't know if I am going to scallop or not. I may just fish." Knowing that sometimes you have to push them past their fretting, I told him, "No, this year, you are going to go scalloping. We have "noodles" to float on and there will be a lot of us out there. You'll be fine." The first day out, he got right in the water fins, mask and all. Once he discovered the undersea world, he really didn't want to come back into the boat. He had a ball swimming around the boat hunting for scallops, sponges, crabs, and starfish.

After about four hours of searching for scallops...only to find about 20 (see Greg's Blog about this)...we returned to shore. On the way back in, DS 4 was sitting in my lap with the wind blowing in our faces.

He was quiet as if he was trying to soak it all in. Then, suddenly, he turned to me and said, "You know Mom, you were right, I should have scalloped this year. It's kind of like Dad said yesterday."

Not really understanding what he was talking about, I asked, "What did Dad say yesterday?"

He replied, "You know, he said, 'you've got to face your fears.' And I have plenty of fears to face."

I was suddenly reminded that DH preached on the story of Jonah and the Whale during church the day before. He talked about Jonah being afraid to go to Ninevah and running from God. His point...you have to face your fears. You cannot run from God or your circumstances.

I called DH at home that night to tell him that at least "one little person was listening to his sermon yesteday."

I sat reflecting on this 7 year-old boy who has grasped such wisdom...He's right, you know, we DO have to face our fears!