Hotter Than the 4th of July!

 {Cell phone pic Instagram'd}

Last week I hit up the Walmart for holiday gear and walked away with tee shirts, a dress, hair bow, tattoos, necklaces, headbands, blue hair spray and candy bags....the Walmart puked holiday swag into my cart just like it does pretty much every holiday.

{Alissa ~ Haylee ~ Lily}

I plan to do it while I can because a day will come real soon when I'll pull some holiday garb out of a bag and one of these children is going to look at me like I'm a total embarrassment. See that new face up there?  Wednesday was the first time I was able to meet my second cousin Lily, she's only been born for I don't know...four months!  Haylee loved her some baby.

{Ninety five degrees = no makeup}

Jon was asked to pull the Lions Club float in the parade so it was just Haylee and I representing, I was glad not to be on that float baking in the sun.  I found the perfect shady spot for our clan and set chairs out early...an old parade-going pro.

My cousin Katie just paid for professional pictures of Lily and wasn't happy with any of them so I told her that I would snap one with my little point and shoot. I use free editing software called PicMonkey to edit things out - - like Katie's arm which was holding Lily up in this picture because she's not able to sit on her own yet.

Finally we see the Jeep coming!  Ryan and David were throwing wads of candy our way, which was an improvement from two years ago when Ryan rolled by sleeping on my uncle Howard's tractor.

My grandpa was huge into The Lion's Club so Jon tries to carry on the tradition of selling flares and doing special projects with the non-profit group, to carry on his name.

After the parade was over we headed back to my aunt's cottage for a few minutes where everyone agreed we needed to jump in the lake, it was so sweltering hot we could barely stand ourselves!

{Here Lily, try this popsicle}

I haven't gotten in the water at all the past couple of years, I always send Jon because I'm afraid of squishy, slimy, rocky...seaweed, leaches, fish...you name it.  But ninety five?  Virgin no more.

You can see how far people are out beyond the dock and it's only up to their thighs so the kids are pretty safe, though I still get excited sometimes because water is scary shit no matter how deep.

{Cousin Alissa and new fiancee' Matt}

My friend Katie brought her boys over for the festivities, her littlest being Haylee's age.

{Dillon and Derrick}

My sister brought her kids along too, we were surrounded by littles.

{Layne}

You may remember my post from last month about my friend Katie losing her husband, I was surprised to see her show up about twenty pounds lighter than the last time we were together!  I don't wish the stress of losing a spouse on anyone, she's had some hard times but damn she looked awesome.

When the boys got back from the parade route they found us in the lake, David took off for the deep waters while Ryan stayed close by. 

{Obligatory Holiday Photo}

Jon was totally against me taking any pictures which captured his ever growing waistline, but this one I loved of him throwing Ryan so...I censored the spare tire.

Speaking of waist lines, it wasn't long before we were starved!  We all headed back up to the house to get our BBQ started.

{Two peas in a blonde pod}

After we stuffed our faces, the adults sat under shade tree visiting while the kids played with water balloons and some other kiddie games that my aunt has bought for them.  My poor niece Kennedi didn't look too happy when her mother put the balloons in her bikini top, won't be long until it will be reality...she is a member of our family and we've all been "blessed."

My friend Katie and sister Steph packed up their kids and headed home for naps, so we decided to take one last spin around the lake and stop somewhere for a swim.  It was so hot you could barely catch your breath!

Another first for me...once we threw out the anchor I got into the water (over my head) and quickly realized that I'm not able to swim like I did when I was a teenager, even doggy paddling wasn't keeping my big rear end afloat!  Maybe it was all the waves, not all the extra sandbags I'm carrying on my hips?  There were a ton of boats on the lake creating whitecaps.

Boats like these ones which were so patriotically parading around.

Because the kids got up at 6:30 in the morning, spent the day on the lake in the beating down sun and we didn't really have anywhere for all of us to nap we didn't make it for the fireworks.  Thankfully we had been out on the lake until nearly midnight the night before watching them...our 4th was a long, sleep deprived, sweat filled but totally awesome and a totally worth it kind of day.