“July is hot afternoons and sultry nights and mornings when it's joy just to be alive.” ~Hal Borland

July 1

Never fear. Owlette is here to save the day.

July 2

“Grandpa, will you play with me?”

Independence Day 2022

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Jerry, Kerry, and Terry

This is Will’s first Independence Day

Ella thinks he’s pretty cute

Kelly, Sarah, and Cynthia

Ladies first. They might leave some for the guys.

Shelby, Sarah, Julia, Cynthia, Holly, and Ann

Everyone loves Holly’s deviled eggs

Holly, Shelby, and Kelly

Ready for ribs

Kiara, Elijah, moi, and Ken

It’s nice when the young folks don’t mind eating with the old folks

Knox, Sarah, Ella, Julia, and Shelby

Jane, Kelly, Cynthia, Ann, Alex, Laura, and Don

Jerry, Holly, and Kerry

Freedom Peeps

Ella, Shelby, Will, Julia, Sarah, Knox, Kiara, and Elijah

Cousin Peeps

Ella, Shelby, Elijah, Julia, Sarah, and Knox

Just the girls

Family Peeps

Traditions are important

Will is chanting, “USA! USA! USA!"

Ready for the fireworks

Kaboom! Our little city knows how to celebrate freedom.

Happy Birthday, America!

July 9

Oh, she’s going places!

July 13

Knox ~ off the high dive into the deep 

July 13

My niece Sarah celebrated her 27th with her mom’s homemade pineapple upside down cake

July 15

Ella’s first catch ever

She’d caught three before anyone else caught one

Knox has done this before

I think they caught ten fish then released them to swim another day

July 16

Kelly and Ella painting Barbie and friends

Art is good for the soul

July 18

Our first grandchild celebrated her 21st birthday

21! 21! 21!

If I say it enough, maybe it will finally sink in.

"Can I still turn 21 if a 3 yr old blew out my candles??" ~Shelby’s quote from her Instagram post

That face you make when your 3 year old cousin is blowing out your birthday candles

before you have the chance. After about three seconds of stunned silence, we had a good laugh,

relit the candles, sang the last line of the Birthday Song, and Shelby blew out her candles.

21! 21! 21!

Kelly had some fun with the Play-dough

Taco, chips and salsa, and a drink of course

July 20

Neil and Knox went to see the new Thor movie and had the place to themselves

for a little while anyway before others drifted in

July 22

Neil and Shelby went to the shooting range for some target practice

She tried out her new Glock she got for her birthday

Good shootin' there, Shelby

Neil was happy with his bull’s eye. Said it took him about a hundred rounds to finally nail it.

July 24

When the carefully cultivated grass in the front yard died yet again, Neil started digging

and discovered just below the surface this tree root. Six feet wide. Hard to tell it in the picture.

Spent most of a day digging it all up and cutting it into smaller pieces. He thinks this may

be the reason grass won’t establish deep roots for the long haul. 

July 29

In yo face

She plopped herself on my lap and got in my face

So I took her picture

July 31

Fourth time’s the charm?

Green sprouts already pushing up through that blanket of straw

1 Corinthians 3:7-8

7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 

8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

So whether you’re sowing Kingdom seeds or grass seeds,

it is God who makes things grow

“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