Happy Fourth to all!

This year, our plans to celebrate the fourth were very last minute. It worked out that my parents and brother and my niece and her family were able to come over for a cookout, swimming, movies and video games. I'm glad we got together from some fun family times. There were a couple Harry Potter movies that got watched, some Halo was played on the XBox, swimming and tons of yummy food to share!

Ranger & my dad:

My mom with her newest great-grandson:
Ben & Doug grilling the food. Ben prepared these totally yummy shish-kabobs (or however you spell them!):

Ryan was very excited to have Ben come over. That meant someone new to play Halo with:

Ben "rocking it" in the pool with Doug & Baylee:

Both dogs made it in the pool, with a little help from me, to hang out with Doug:

All the swimmers, including the dogs:

Baylee & Ryan playing with his Halo guys:

Ryan, Melissa & Doug ready to watch some fireworks:

Baylee fell asleep on the way to fireworks and never woke up. Here's Ben, Baylee, Brittany and Payton:

The Fireworks:

THE Haircut

So, we're driving down the road about two weeks ago, just Ryan & I listening to some music and having a good time. Out of the blue, he asks what I think he would look like with short hair. Hmmmmmm. We talked about that for a bit. He was needed a trim, at the very least anyway, so a few days later, I made him a haircut appointment. We had to wait about a week and a half for the appointment to come. During that time, he made a few more comments about being ready to cut his hair and well, here you go, check them out...

Combing out the hair getting ready to cut it:

Jennifer, my hair stylist, and Ryan before the first cut:
Look at all that hair:

After the first cutting of the long pieces in the back:
The hair collected on the floor, man that is a lot of hair:
The finished cut. We've had a lot of fun doing different things with it. He absolutely hated it at first - it's a big change! But has gotten a little more used to it. We have put gel in it & colored the ends (temporarily) red one day & blue another. One thing I have noticed, his eyes and dimples really show up now!

Bowling League has begun

Let the summer bowling league begin! For like four years, we have done a summer bowling with our friends. The kids bowl and then we spend the rest of the day doing fun summer activities. We look forward to this every year.

This is the first year Ryan is bowling without bumpers. He does very well without them.

Shaylin & Keara waiting for their turn:
Ryan and Shaylin are about ready to be done. This year they bowl three games instead of two. That third game is VERY long!

Afterwards one day, we went to one of my favorite restaurants. I was craving Sweet Potato fries. We ate outside at one of the picnic tables. It was so beautiful out, and the kids climbed trees after their lunch was gone.

A Higgins Get Together Part 3

Loved the lighting on this shot of two of my nieces:

The ice cream lady bringing us yummy treats:
Tough choices:

A Higgins Get Together Part 2

Here is where it all began. Over 50 years ago, my parents were married and have watched their family grow and grow and grow.

My parents and all of their children:
My parents and all of their children, and most of their children's children and most of their children's children's children - you get the idea. Here we are, minus a few family members who live out of state and were unable to be here.

My trademark goofy shot:

A Higgins Get Together Part 1

In June, most of the Higgins got together for a week. One evening, we were all together. There were just 8 family members missing. We had a great dinner, visiting, playing and of course, if I'm around picture taking. My mom somehow talked me into taking a family picture. I'm more of a candid, small group type of person. I had a great time taking this picture and was actually very pleased with out it came out. So, thank you all for the opportunity to place you and photograph you. Before and after the "official" photo was taken, I got to do what I love best, wander around and photograph my family just being themselves.

At my nieces house, they had this huge double swing. The kids had such a great time playing on it. Here is Ryan swinging away:

Finally Ryan has a boy cousin his age to play with. The two of them enjoyed the swing a lot:

Ben & Baylee:
Playing tether ball:

Cousins galore:

Jumping on the trampoline at night. Craig & Steven were great jumping for me. One of the drawbacks of digital cameras with a screen to shoot from - at night you are basically shooting blind. I just pointed my camera in the general direction and hoped it would capture them in the act. I had a great time trying to "aim" as best I could. They seemed to have a great time flipping and flipping and flipping for me. I did get some pretty cool shots. I think eventually I did wear them out though.

End of School Swim Party

Yes, yes we have already established that I am extremely behind in my posting. So, here is another Harper activity to get caught up on. This actually happened the same day as Brittany's baby shower. Every year since first grade, we host an End of School Year Swim Party. We invite Ryan's entire class to come over for some swimming fun. Because of our concrete project, we had to have the party much later than we normally do. It was a great time. It was probably a good thing that we had it later. It's been a very strange summer for us. The weather here has been pretty cool. We were not anywhere near the 100+ temperatures that we normally have during June. So, the pool was actually cold. I know those of you that live elsewhere in the world will find it very hard to believe that with our temperatures in the mid 90's that our pool was cold, but it was! By the end of June, I had only been in the pool once - it lasted 5 minutes and caused me physical pain to be in there. Of course, Ryan's friends found that to be funny. So, for the pool party, the kids swam for about 45 minutes before they had to get out and warm up. They did have a great time.

Playing the favorite Marco Polo:

Glad school is over!

Ranger actually got in a couple times with the kids and did a couple laps. One time he went in and swam to each kid before getting out to lay in the sun:
Warming up and getting snacks:
Of course Sam was never very far away from all those good snacks. He did go in the pool also - not by his choice:

Ryan out of the pool, snacking and warming up. I didn't notice Sam watching him eat until I put the pic on my computer. He is such a funny dog:

During a warm up break, the kids kicked the ball around and ate - what else - ice cream sandwiches. By the time the parents came to pick up, the kids had made it back in the pool and then didn't want to get out:

Ryan had a great class this year. We were hoping that maybe his teacher might come this year, at least for a little bit, since we kinda know her pretty well. We haven't had one come yet. Maybe next year. I had to put in a little jab because I know she reads this blog! We will miss having her as a teacher next year but are looking forward to 5th grade!

Concrete All Done

Okay...Okay...Okay...I know the concrete has actually been finished for like a month. I'm finally getting around to posting the pictures from the final and completed project. The concrete came out beautifully. Doug then textured the whole area. He patched up the sections of our pools deck that needed a little TLC (c'mon the pool is almost 12 years old - it was in need of a little love). He then textured those spots as well. Then a fresh coat of Cool Deck paint for the whole pool. It looks wonderful and fresh.

Picture of the pool area:

The new sitting area complete with chairs that were purchases last year. These are my "great find" last year. I ran to Michael's for some thread and had two boys with me in my not very big car. There they were two Adirondack chairs with ottomans for $30. I bought two and then had the fun of trying to figure out how to get them in my car and bring all the passengers at the same time. One of them fit perfectly in my truck area. The other one had to go in the back seat. It was a tight fit but we made it home. They sat in our garage for a year. As soon as the concrete was done, we pulled out the chairs and the stain (that was also bought last year) and got to work. They came out great and are so comfortable to sit in by the pool reading a book (which I have already done several times this swimming season!)

Add a few speakers, some snacks and a cold drink and you are set to enjoy some time by the pool: