holiday weekend

I like that celebrating America's birthday on Sunday means the official holiday for the holiday gets carried over to the next weekday. It's like a bonus.

We spent Sunday evening at my mother-in-law's house, where we ate delicious food, including blackberry cobbler, and then watched the guys shoot fireworks. She lives in Tennessee, which means we weren't even breaking any state laws about igniting explosive elements.

Cate wasn't so sure about it all, though. She decided she was better off inside, where she proclaim she "needed" to be to help Gran-Gran clean the kitchen. I was humored by my 3-year-old not wanting to admit she wasn't into the noise (I assume) of the fireworks. It's nice she used helping Gran-Gran as her excuse to stay behind the closed door.

I was happy Serenity and Maya (cousins I inherited when I married Greg!) were in town for the festivities.

Having the holiday bonus means we got to celebrate at Kentucky Lake on Monday ...

Despite swimming in the same lake, multiple pools and the ocean in recent weeks, Cate decided she was afraid of the water. I hope it was just the peer pressure of her cousin's fear and not a lasting issue. She just watched people swim and talked about fish. But, hey, she looks beautiful doing it!