4th of July Fun, Friends, and Festivities

Our town has a week long festival every year ending on Sunday with a parade and fireworks.

We invited the Lee family to join us for the festivities.

Mel marched in the parade with the municipal band,

but I didn't get any pictures of her or any good ones of the parade.

After the parade, we all went back to our house to cool off.

I think Isaac was the first one to get wet. He didn't even want to wait for the water fight.

Jason helped him out some with the hose.

Kaleb is definitely a water lover. He is trying to get a drink from the spray in this pic.

The little guy broke his arm just last week,

and Mrs. Lee wrapped his cast in Walmart bags so he could join in the fun.

We played a game called "Water Laser Tag".

Each person had an alka seltzer table on a string around their neck,

and everyone else tried to squirt it.

When your tablet disolved, you were out of the game.

Mom and Mr. Lee were the last two in the game.

I think I know why...Mr. Lee is using more than just a spray bottle on his opponents.
Gabrielle had better watch out!
Jordan was hard to catch because he is such a fast runner. Ah...more strategy from Mr. Lee...shoot them while they re-load!
The next game we played was a relay. It was pretty simple--run down, dump out your water, switch places, and just keep repeating those steps until all the bottles were empty.

Kaleb didn't play that game, but he was ready for his turn.

We dumped water on him later.
Jason is repaying Christian for his attack with a water balloon.

Somehow I think Christian got the bad end of the bargain.
Next we tried to see how high we could jump. Mom kept raising the hose higher and higher.

Christian Jason
Dad
We told Mrs. Lee she had to get in on it even if she was wearing a skirt.

Can she do it? Nice pose!
The two guys The two girls being Super Girl! I think Jordan was able to clear five feet!
We all had to sign Kaleb's cast.

Once we were cooled off, we played bean bags.

After supper we headed over to the ball diamond to hit some softballs.

This is a girls' slo-pitch diamond, but Jason likes going there and hitting it over the fence.
Somehow it's more satisfying than just hitting it far on a different field!

I played 3rd base and pitcher in the park district games for 5 years,

and I always enjoy a chance to get back on the field.
While we hit a few balls, the little kids played at the park.


Isaac and Melody were secret agents making sure the area was secure for the rest of us.
This diligent scout it determined to do his job right!

We ended our day of fun at the town fireworks.

We sat with two other families from church and had one big group!

Melody and adorable little Hiram
Kaleb, Isaac, and Joy took the front row and the popcorn!

We had a blast that day!

Wegmeyer Wedding

Last Saturday, we attended the wedding of Jeff and Noree Wegmeyer

in Rockford at the Sinnissippi Rose Gardens.

We grew up with Jeff and his siblings,

and we met Noree about 10 years ago.

It was nice knowing both sides of the wedding party.

Mom made the dresses for all of the girls except for the bride's dress.

The flower girls were so cute!

The bride's father performed most of the wedding ceremony.

Jeff just graduated from West Point and is now a 2nd Lt.

He will be stationed in Colorado until leaving for his one year tour of duty,

and he was almost called back from his leave the night before the wedding because of the wildfires in that state.

He almost missed his own wedding!

It was a great place for taking pictures because the grounds were lovely.

This river was covering up the wedding site until just last week.

Thankfully, it receded in time for the wedding. Mel is holding 5 month old, Emma.
She is the youngest daughter of some friends who were also there.

Hmm...Jase, did you get something on your pants?

From the look Mel is giving, I would assume the answer is "Yes."

Oh well, it won't show up in the pictures!

There were a number of ducks, geese, and even two swans in the pond.

This mama and her little babies were so cute!

The swan did not like the Canadian geese and kept chasing them away from the others.

And now for a few pictures of the beautiful flowers and grounds!The roses were gorgeous!

With the sunlight on this one, I think this rose is my favorite.

God's handiwork is beautiful!!!!

Pretty dresses

These past couple of months, Mom has been busy making

4 bridesmaid dresses and 2 flower girl dresses for a friend's wedding.

I know the lighting is not that great,

but we wanted to put up a couple pics of the dresses.

Actually, I was in a hurry because I had students coming in 5 minutes,

so I only got a picture of a flower girl dress and the skirt of a bridesmaid dress.

By the time I was done teaching, the dresses had been picked up. Oops!

Oh well, at least I have two pictures of Mom's hard work.

Two of the bridesmaid dresses have plum skirts and lavender tops,

and the other two are opposite. They are each a little different.

The wedding is this afternoon,

so maybe we'll get a few pictures of the dresses actually on the people!