July 4th 2009 and my Grandparents' Anniversary

My grandparents, Momo and Popo, 60 years ago.

Momo and Popo, on their 60th wedding anniversary.

It all started on Friday, July 3rd. Well, the actual trip started that day. The packing and especially the planning began much, much earlier...like February! We had to do lots of planning because after July 4th, we were heading straight to the beach. So anyway, back to July 3rd. Buzzy got home from work around 4 pm and we began the daunting task of loading the minivan in the 100 degree temps. Looking at the gigantic pile of things that we needed to get in the van, we were not so sure it was all going to fit. I wish I had taken a picture of that. We had one cooler, two cooler bags, suitcases, and boxes full of food, paper goods, first aide supplies, sunscreen, beach and sand toys, pillows, sheets, blankets, towels, fishing poles, two adults, two children, etc, etc, (and did I mention food?) for our beach trip. We got it all in there...barely! So at 5:00 PM we're pulling out of the driveway and I'm cringing when I look at the time. 5:00 PM + Interstae 35 = stop and go traffic + two passengers prone to car sickness = puke + complaining = AAAAAAAAHHHHHH! But, Praise the Lord, this equation did not come true! I don't think I've ever driven through downtown on a Friday and not run into traffic. We did not so much as slow down...it was awesome! Thank you, Lord! I'm assuming the lack of traffic is due to the fact that people had already left town for the July 4th weekend. So the 5 hour trip to my grandparents' in south Texas was very painless...minus the occasional "how much longer?", "are we there yet?", "I'm bored", and "I have to go potty" coming from the front seat...er, I mean the back seat. When we got to my grandparents little town, we had to unload almost everything that we had packed into the car because we didn't want everything sitting in the hot car until we made it to the beach.

Saturday, July 4th: My grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary! How cool is that? 60 years! When they first met, my grandpa was actually on a date with another girl. They were at an Abbott and Costello movie when my grandma was laughing so hard she caught his attention. Flash forward 60 years, and here we are at a big party celebrating their marriage with lots of family, friends, and food. My mom had a little program that included a poem she had written, a "Who's on First" performance by my cousin and his daughter that was very cute, and honoring our armed forces with the Pledge of Allegiance, led by my cousin that's a Marine, and singing God Bless America. (I think that was the biggest run-on sentence ever!) My brother also put together an amazing slide show for the event. One thing that I did not personally witness but that people were talking about, had to do with an abundance of little frogs all over my Momo and Popo's yard. Momo brought some plants into the house to decorate and three frogs jumped out of the pots, onto the counter and onto the floor while she was decorating them. Momo and my mom squealed and jumped away. Popo chased them with a paper towel and threw them outside. They hoped they were all out of the pots but later that day when they took them out to the hall where the party was held and set them on the table, another one jumped out!


Aunt Jane, Popo, Aunt Terrie, Momo, Mom

Mom and Dad

Malia, Lainie, and Anna

The Fourth of July celebration continued later that evening. Momo and Popo have a farm with acreage, cows, etc and one pond in particular that we call "the tank". We all went down to the tank for a wiener roast. When I say "we all", I'm referring to my family of four, my brother's family of four, my parents, my grandparents, my two aunts with their husbands, and four of my cousins with their spouses and children. I wasn't quite sure if I was going to enjoy the heat and being ravaged by mosquitoes, but was pleasantly surprised by the breeze that also kept the mosquitoes away. One thing that was very challenging about this event, was trying not to step in any cow "patties". This task became even more interesting as the sun started to set. I was shocked to find that our shoes were actually quite clean when we returned to the house that night.

Looks like Brayden is taking a little nap here!

Mom with the twins

There were tiny little frogs everywhere at the edge of the tank and all the kids were catching them with their hands and putting them in a bucket. The little girls were especially funny about this because some of them desperately wanted to catch frogs, but were still too afraid. So they would try to grab one and end up screaming, too afraid to actually touch it or pick it up. Brayden was having great fun with this until a frog peed on him. He said he would prefer catching frogs that did not pee on him. My sister-in-law, Keri, does not like frogs. So she became the center of some pranks and generally everybody was just giving her a hard time.




Here's Malia with her can of frogs.



And upon further inspection, she screams and decides maybe she's done holding this can of jumping frogs.

We also roasted marshmallows. This is the first time Brayden and Malia have done this. Needless to say, they really enjoyed eating those. Next my cousins set off a few fireworks on the island. Brayden announced, “ This is the best day of my life!”.

Then we all went back to the house and began to give baths to the kids. My twin nieces, Lainie and Anna, and Malia got their baths. Brayden had just gotten all soaped up when the water quit working in the house. 12 people in my grandparents' house with no water! (One of my aunts and uncles were staying at a hotel and the rest of the family was staying at my other aunt's house.)So some of the men went out to the well behind the house to investigate. They ended up calling the plumber. They were all out there working on the well from 9 to about 11 that night. They finally found and fixed the problem, which was a wire that had broken way down at the bottom of the well.

Meanwhile Momo had a pitcher of water on the counter that she used to measure the amount of water she drank during the day. We had to use this "cistern" to rinse the soap off Brayden. The water was cold and you could hear Brayden holler as he was rinsed off. Poor guy. But all things considered, he really took it pretty well. I don't know if I would have taken it as well. I hate cold water! The rest of the women just used bottled water or the rest of the "cistern" to wash our faces, brush our teeth and then went to bed. The men that were working on the well were able to get showers late that night.

The next day it was time to start re-loading all of the coolers, boxes, suitcases, etc back into our van. Oh wait, forget to mention that the women did get those well-needed showers! We had a big lunch with lots of family again, and then it was time to get on the road to the beach. But you'll have to read about that in another post because this one is getting way too long!

**The majority of these photos were taken by my sister-in-law. Thanks so much, Keri!