“The Summer looks out from her brazen tower, Through the flashing bars of July.” – Francis Thompson

July 2

Chillin’ or asleep or the sun’s in Ella's eyes

Maybe all three

July 3

Lunch at Grandma’s Pancake House

with Kelly, Ella, Holly, and Knox 

(and also Neil who didn’t make the cut, sorry)

INDEPENDENCE DAY 2021

Celebrating America’s birthday with family, food, fun, and fireworks

is a long-standing tradition in our backyard each year

Neil grills ribs, and everyone brings their specialty side dishes and desserts,

and we make homemade ice cream

Corn Hole competitions, water gun fights, sparklers, backyard fireworks, 

eating too much delicious food, a walk around the block, piling in trucks and cars

and racing down the street to find the best spot to view the local

fireworks show, getting caught in the traffic jam after the fireworks show,

more sparklers and backyard fireworks and eating ice cream and

packing up leftovers and to-go plates/bags/boxes and then

hugs and kisses and waving goodbyes, knowing, or not knowing,

we’ll do it all over again same time next year

"Where liberty dwells, there is my country.”

Benjamin Franklin

July 8

Neil and Knox hiked Burgess Falls

July 10

Waiting patiently for her mac and cheese

She hasn’t discovered the joy of chicken nuggets at Chick-fil-A yet

July 12

July 13

My niece Sarah celebrated her 26th birthday

July 16

Knox on his hoverboard 

The rest of us just walk

Helping Grandpa feed the birds

July 17

Ella lined up her Peppa Pig family and friends waiting for lunch

at Grandma’s Pancake House

I like extra crispy Peppa…I mean bacon

July 18

She’s the one who made us grandparents

And now Shelby is celebrating her 20th! birthday

Seems impossible but here we are

July 23

Another Friday, another walk

July 25

Awesome Granddaughters Shelby and Ella

The Grands

Knox, Shelby, Elijah, and Ella

July 28

Dinner and a movie sleepover night with Shelby and Elijah was fun

For lunch the next day, we were pleasantly surprised to find the

Steak n Shake dining room back open. Not only that, but also the restaurant

had revamped its whole look and operation. Everything is self-serve now.

Order and pay from a kiosk, fill your drink cup, find a seat and wait for your order number to

be called, just like every other fast food place. The whole experience was 

refreshingly streamlined and efficient. And the food was good, too.

Wonder who’s been taking selfies with my iPad and didn’t realize

the camera was not reversed and the iPad cover was half closed?

July 29

Dinner and a movie sleepover with Knox was also fun

He brought his blow-up bed and fell asleep watching something on his iPad

at around three a.m. We watched Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which 

is a fun and funny movie. Good times before school starts full time next week.

July 31

This year is slip slidin’ away

“In the summer, the days were long, stretching into each other. Out of school, everything was on pause and yet happening at the same time, this collection of weeks when anything was possible.” ―Sarah Dessen