Happy birthday, U.S.A!

We celebrated this weekend at the annual Taylor Family July 4th Cookout + Swim. (I named it that this year, by the way ...) Thankfully, the weather held off and we got to enjoy some time outside before heading to my in-laws house in Tennessee to watch the fireworks the guys were excited about lighting.


Oh, and we also celebrated Maya and Serenity's birthdays, which weren't this weekend, but close enough.

Then there pool time ...




Cate was mellow, thanks to the three molars she's working on. At least that's what I assume has been making her tired, feverish, lethargic and moody this past week!





Then Cate wanted a turn to go down the slide ...




... Turns out she liked it!




This is one happy grandma with both her granddaughters!




And this fun is being had WITH the cap still on ... Imagine if it was off! Although she can drink out of the bottle now, with our help, of course!


Then is was on to Tennessee, where fireworks can be (legally) bigger, brighter and bolder ...


The sky was really neat looking before it got dark enough for fireworks.




Sparklers! They always make me think about "Flight of the Navigator," even though that's only a detail in a scene after David returns home. For some strange reason that scene is burned in my mind from when I was a kid.



This is cousin Zak and his girlfriend Alysha. They (above) humored me as I played with the nighttime settings on my camera.


We liked having out-of-town cousins Serenity and Maya in town for the weekend.