Fantastic 4th!

I know, I know.  Where the heck have I been?

Well, I've been here, but things have been super busy for about the past two weeks!

At the beginning of last week, we kicked off our several weeks of having family coming to stay.

It started with my cousin Calley overnighting with us last Monday.  He's a pilot, so whenever he has a layover in Houston, he crashes with us!  It's always a ton of fun, and this time he introduced the hubby and me to the IPhone App Words.  It's Scrabble on the IPhone!  We've been playing ever since!

Wednesday morning, Bryan and Ethan headed out on their 4 day road trip.  They rode from here to DFW, to Tulsa, to the Ozark National Forest, to Eureka Springs, to Little Rock and then back home.  They said it was a good trip, but it sure was a LONG one!

So what did I do while they were gone?

Mama and Gan Gan came in Wednesday and stayed all the way until Thursday evening!

We went and had lunch at my favorite tea room and went shopping at all the little boutique and resale shops in the area.  Normally, I'm not much of a shopping gal, but with mom and Gan Gan it's always fun!  Mom bought me this awesome sign that I'm going to hang over my pantry door, once we paint the kitchen of course.

Thursday night, Steve and Angie and the kiddos came to stay!

We had pizza for dinner, and then after Mom and Gan Gan left, I joined Angie and the girls at the pool!

It was a blast!  We worked on WALKING SLOWLY around the pool and the girls had a blast going down the slides!  Friday morning I got up in time to see Sadie (the youngest) stumble down the stairs still half asleep lol.  Alexis wasn't far behind her.  I got the girls some breakfast and then Steve and Angie came down and we all spent the morning hanging out.

They headed out, which gave me time to get the laundry done and the house cleaned up for Austin's arrival!  Little brother ended up not coming in til Saturday so that he could spend Friday night in Spring and hang out with the parents and Gan Gan, which gave me time to watch my new anime obsession--The Black Butler--and paint my toes!

Saturday, Austin and I grabbed lunch and by the time we got home so had Bryan!

It was so good to have him back.  We hung out around the house, the boys took naps while I watched one of Austin's favorite animes--Claymore--and then we went for burgers.  That evening we introduced Austin to Doctor Who!  He enjoyed it as much as we did, of course, so we spent the evening watching the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism.

Sunday was brew day!  Austin and Bryan brewed the next batch of beer.

Steve and Angie and the girls came back by and the girls watched Curious George 2, and Yo Gabba Gabba.  For the record, I suspect some serious pot smoking took place during the development of that show--singing about how hungry you are and the food you are about to eat dancing and singing about the party in your tummy sounds like someone had a case of the munchies in the writing room!  That said, the girls loved it, and it definitely wasn't as horrendous as the TeleTubbies.  Sunday night we went down to the Island and ate at The Spot.  Then we took the fuzzy nephew Diego out for a walk on the beach!  Watching people react to that big of a dog is always entertaining, but even better was Diego's reactions to the waves!

Monday was rest day.  I was (and still am) in the middle of a horrible flare that has been going on for about a week.  So while Bryan worked on the Sportster and Austin alternated between studying and napping, I sat on the couch with my feet propped up and read my books! 

That night we went to Steve and Angie's hotel and set up our chairs in the parking lot.  They managed to get a hotel right at Kemah, so we had perfect seats for the fireworks!

It was a wonderful 4th of July!

And the fun doesn't stop there--Gina and Wyatt and Forrest and Madeleine (all cousins) are in town tonight and then next week Carol and Calley and Jacob and Caleb are coming in!  After that, there's the River Cabin, Victoria's visit, and Brooke's coming down!  This is a great summer!