Our Summer Thus far and the Fourth Of July!

At the end of June my daughter, Autumn came up to visit with her boyfriend and my mother. It was a GREAT week, just like old times and it was sad to say goodbye. In a few short weeks she and her boyfriend will be parting as well to go to colleges in a state apart from each other. While they were here we played in Lake Erie, and checked out Niagara Falls, attended my youngest daughter, Felicia's moving up ceremony which was a graduation from middle school, and had many a cookout.

Around the end of that week, my dad came up and stayed until July 10th I believe. He had a good time looking at the architecture in Buffalo and bought a wide angle lens as well as a telephoto lens for his camera which he had fun playing with.

Mike's brother and nephew came up for a few days during this time. Justin's long time 29 year old girlfriend, and mom of our 7 year old nephew, died suddenly and unexpectedly during an illness. From what I've been told, she had a flu-like illness and choked/aspirated on her vomit and never came conscious again. She was in ICU with a cooling blanket trying to minimize damage, to no avail....ended up with a major heart attack. Mike had gone down for the service, and Justin and Tyler came back home with him. We sent them home on a train on the 3rd, since they had plans for the fourth they did not want to miss. They had a good time and that made me glad. We hadn't seen them for 6 months. We went to a few Lake beaches, explored the cool rocks and shells, and went back to Niagara Falls so they could experience that, made S'mores, and rocked the grill for some more cookouts!

On the fourth, we went to our FIRST Fourth of July parade ever in Lancaster, NY with my dad!!! It was fun, and I had a feeling of nostalgia with the whole thing. We had a cookout at home, played outdoor checkers on a cool mat checkerboard, and later attended fireworks in Orchard Park. It was nowhere NEAR as crazy as fireworks back home in MA. Yes, it was crowded but it was much easier to get in and out so we were very very happy with the whole experience.

Here are some pictures from our day:



The band of the high school Felicia is to start in September











Some other pictures from our time with family:



~My girls, before Felicia's moving up ceremony, June 23rd 2010

shucking corn for a cookout!
First time at Niagara falls, American side:



Second time to Niagara Falls, S'mores and other random fun:






The American Flag:

You’re the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.
~George M. Cohan

Finally out of hiding

When we first got this guinea pig in April of this year, she was SO skittish you couldn't even pet her. Changing her cage was a nightmare, as she ran and jumped all around to get away from us. FINALLY this month we have been able to hold her. I felt so bad before that she was living a lonely life. I'm much happier for her now. Here is Aiden holding her.

Superbowl

Well, last night we had a full house, which doesn't take much since there are 9 of us to begin with. We had two of Autumn's friends join us for the game and food, which there was too much of to say the least. We watched the entire 5 hours of pre-game, which was pretty interesting!! Of course, Mike wanted to watch a movie which shocked me because I was enjoying the pre-game stuff, and Bucci suggested a game of Risk! I am SO glad they didn't break that out for once, it's the SUPERBOWL afterall people!!



Mike with his cousin, Eric



Mike and I



Mike Jr kissing momma



We started out with some chips and dips which I didn't partake of too much since I didn't want to get full on that junk. Some even broke out the cheese and crackers, no thank you. The pizza arrived from Spiro's and it was pretty good. There was combo, pepperoni and plain cheese to choose from. I don't normally eat pork, since it's a scavenger animal and not clean/healthy at all, but I threw caution to the wind and indulged in the combo anyhow. Next I had been simmering some chili for a couple hours since Mike really wanted that. Only two people had any since, like me, they were holding out for the wings!!! Guess who will be eating chili several times this week for lunch?




This weekend alone, I have stocked up 9 lunches for Mike in the freezer. That is terrific! I feel I could do better in this area lately, and cooking for this event certainly helped attain that goal! A few hours later I reheated the wings that had come from Quicky's on Saturday and boy did they hit the spot!



Autumn with Mike B



Aiden whispering in papa's ear



Mike Jr. with Spot



the crew after eating..did you know that after a lion eats he needs to sleep up to 24 hours?



Spot enjoys some grooming, courtesy of Mike B



My tuckered out sugar-kid


Felicia came out of hiding and Mike Jr stole a shot of her..good job kid!

After the second quarter we shut the TV off and did our usual nightly bible reading & discussion, everyone present taking a turn reading, sometimes two. After that, the younger children were brought to bed and the game resumed.

I was rooting for the Cardinals, since it's such a big deal that it was their first Superbowl. How nice would THAT have been for them? New England wasn't playing so what did I care anyway?! LOL Boy, it got close there at the end and the tension was certifiably cuttable but alas, they missed the mark. I went straight to bed after that and have no clue what happened afterward other than the starting and pulling off of Bucci's car.

~Be prepared to be cutified~

I've never been much of a fan of little dogs, I like big beefy dogs, good for protection as well as companionship, but this little guy came home with my daughter today and stole our hearts...his name is "spot" which is ridiculously silly, which you will see why below: