4TH OF JULY AND FAMILY

Last weekend my brother and his family came up from Kentucky to visit us northern folk for the 4th of July weekend celebration. I was so excited to see all of them!

We took them downtown to see Detroit and had some fun at the Detroit Science Center.

The next day, they all went to the Detroit Zoo to check out the animals.

Kazz was very sick so I stayed home with him while everyone played at the zoo.

The weekend zipped by way too quickly. I have always thrown out hints for them to move up here so we can live closer to one another but I think my chances are slim to none.



I sure do miss my nieces and nephews. I will soon have a new nephew. Ryker will be born this October. I can't wait to meet him!


Keisha turned 15 on Tuesday so we has a quick and dirty Birthday party.

Those are the only kind our family knows how to throw.

Every birthday that rolls around throughout the year goes the same way. We grab some balloons from the dollar store, an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen and Pizza from Little Caesars.

The birthday gal/guy sits in "dads" chair at the head of the table.

We sing happy birthday, they open a gift and we eat! Voila! Party complete.

We rarely invite friends or family to attend. We just have the party and whoever happens to be in the house when it happens gets to eat and participate.




It's never failed to amaze me just how many neighbor kids and family members happen to be hanging around our home on the very day someones birthday happens to fall. LOL

Yes we were able to fit a 4th of July BBQ into the weekend festivities. I pulled out the huge box of crafts that we have laying around the house at any given moment. The kids began making the various crafts while our neighbors let off huge fireworks that could be seen all over town.

Somewhere between all of this deliciously fun chaos, a funky thing happened. A bunch of us were sitting around the patio table when a bird landed on Brisan's leg. He sort of flipped it off of his leg and it flew way across the yard and landed on Brooklyn's shirt while she was playing on the swing.

At first she didn't know what had happened. I think she thought someone had hit her with something. She stayed still long enough for me to get a few pictures of the crazy mishap.



Do you see it? It's little talon is tangled in her shirt and/or hair.

Can you see it in the picture below? Just after that picture was taken, it straightened up and flew over to sit on the fence.

What a crazy thing!

We had just the BEST time with family over the holiday. I sure do wish they lived up here so we could do this more often. (not so subtle hint) :o)