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july 4th is will’s busiest time of work every year, so i usually make my own plans to be out of town at smith mountain lake visiting with the folks and granny c.  this year was a little different.  lori phoned me about a week before the holiday and told me that she and chris would be heading down to lake gaston, nc to hang out with chris’ uncle.  since lake gaston is only about an hour from my house, i decided i’d switch up my holiday routine and head out to see her and chris this past saturday.  i then coaxed mom and dad into coming to visit and bringing granny, since dad was having a meeting in raleigh on tuesday.  everything worked out better than we could have planned, and i even got mom and granny over to the airport to see lori and chris yesterday before they flew back to chi town.

lori and i had a great time at the lake and really got to spend some time catching up, talking about our adoption research, and catching some sun burn.  mom thought she had a trick for us to take two aspirin before going in the sun (and when combined with sunblock this would prevent sun burn), however after taking the aspirin lori and i both ended up with the worst sun burns of the group.  go figure.  either way, we had fun chatting and relaxing on the dock.  later on saturday night we all piled into the boat and headed out for fireworks on the lake.  we had a great time bobbing up and down in the boat trying to keep our heads pointed in the direction of the fireworks display.  lori even recited a memorized speech from 4th grade, while others shared their singing skills.  fireworks on the lake were followed by the great sparkler extravaganza.  no 4th of july festivities can be complete without them.  after this, chris’ uncle tom set off some amazing fireworks of his own.  we all had a really great time relaxing on the deck after the show.

sunday morning i got up and had a late breakfast (when these people have a meal, they really have a meal.  for example, breakfast on sunday included juevos rancheros and bananas foster.) with lori, chris, and chris’ family before heading back to wfto meet up with mom, dad, and granny.  they arrived in time for a potty break and then we headed over to meet will in time to see fireworks.  we’d planned to go to the nc art museum grounds to see the show, but they’d blocked it off so we ended up in a parking lot across the street.  however, everything worked out just fine and we had our little pic nic right there on the grass.  everyone enjoyed the grapes, cherries, popcorn, peanuts, and fireworks.  after the show, we headed out to forage for a real dinner.  everyone was closed, so we ended up at the ihop.  will and dad feasted on all you can eat pancakes, and we had a good time with our waiter.  granny was thrilled she could eat off of the kids menu for $4.

monday was a shopping day.  since mom’s surgery, she’d been practicing walking longer distances and doing well getting in and out of the car, and really getting around much better than she ever was before the surgery.  we made all of her favorite stops and she and dad got new shoes at kohl’s and some new things for the house at home goods.  everyone enjoyed relaxing on the screened in porch and watching the sunset each evening.  granny said she felt like we kept the house too “cool”, so we constantly found her out there, or up in her room with the vent closed.  this morning granny decided she felt “useless” so she wanted to clean the windows.  i try to keep the house pretty clean, but never does it cross my mind to clean windows, so i since i did not want to deprive granny of a feeling of worth, i let her go ahead and clean all of the windows.  go granny go!

while their visit was too short, it was certainly great to see everyone in this whirl wind week!  we had a great time catching up, hanging out, and spending time with each other!