I'm Back!

Well kind of. A little under the weather, but back. A 24-hour flu ran through most of us - but luckily it was over rather quickly - and we're a hard group to keep down for long.

The weekend was spent visiting with friends and family (23 of us in all) at the family "vacation home" - and I use that term VERY lightly. It's actually a VERY small, VERY old and run down little house, that we just can't get enough of. The scenery might be a part of it - set in a tiny town at the base of the Sierras. It's beautiful - but this time of year it's HOT! We spend most of our time sitting under the misters in the side lot - which doubles for camping space for the 5 trailers/campers that we all haul up - because at this point only my sister's family and our kids fit in the house anymore.

Our Little House is on the back street of town, and we fly a HUGE American flag, which we are becoming famous for. People around town know us as the family on the corner who comes up for the 4th and has the "big flag."

Visiting, eating, drinking, watching the kids (young and old) - makes for a nice getaway from the "real world." Up at the Little House, things like calories and what time or day it is don't figure into things while we're there.

Our Little House is in a tiny town of 574 inhabitants, called Independence - so the 4th of July is a big deal. The night before the 4th there's a band in the park, and the hubby usually walks the girls down to dance a bit. The 4th starts off with a big pancake breakfast in the park (but my Dad always cooks for us - we're quite sure he missed his true calling as a short order breakfast cook), then, it's off to the parade.


Independence has the best parade - this year it totaled all of about 15 entries. The actually close down the major highway that runs through the middle of town and re-route traffic! The parade runs about three blocks, then turns around and comes back! This is the third time our kids have entered - and our third trophy for "Most Patriotic!" This year they decorated my dad's Jeep and the older "kids" (my hubby, brother-in-law, brother, and family friend) rode decorated minibikes with my niece. We paint the kid's faces and everyone wears their red, white, and blue - and the guys even get into it enough to sport patriotic do-rags! It was poor Lilly's turn with the 24-hour crud, and so she couldn't ride. But, we took video and went back to the house and showed her.

Then, our particular favorite, a pie social at 1:00, put on by the local church ladies. A real, old time pie social - all home made fruit pies, ice cream, lemonade.... It's the kind of thing most local health departments have killed in most cities, and I hope they never find out about ours!

They also have a BBQ in the park, but we skip that for Dad's annual pig in a pit. Mmmmmmm.

Then, we haul all the lawn chairs into the alley and watch the fireworks they set off from the airport. Good Times - I tell ya what! It doesn't get better than that.

I even got a tiny bit of knitting done -