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.\u00a0 this year was a little different.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 i then coaxed mom and dad into coming to visit and bringing granny, since dad was having a meeting in raleigh on tuesday.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 go figure.\u00a0 either way, we had fun chatting and relaxing on the dock.\u00a0 later on saturday night we all piled into the boat and headed out for fireworks on the lake.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 lori even recited a memorized speech from 4th grade, while others shared their singing skills.\u00a0 fireworks on the lake were followed by the great sparkler extravaganza.\u00a0 no 4th of july festivities can be complete without them.\u00a0 after this, chris’ uncle tom set off some amazing fireworks of his own.\u00a0 we all had a really great time relaxing on the deck after the show.<\/p>\n
sunday morning i got up and had a late breakfast (when these people have a meal, they really have a meal.\u00a0 for example, breakfast on sunday included juevos rancheros and bananas foster.)\u00a0with lori, chris, and chris’ family before heading back to wfto meet up with mom, dad, and granny.\u00a0 they arrived in time for a potty break and then we headed over to meet will in time to see fireworks.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 however, everything worked out just fine and we had our little pic nic right there on the grass.\u00a0 everyone enjoyed the grapes, cherries, popcorn, peanuts, and fireworks.\u00a0 after the show, we headed out to forage for a real dinner.\u00a0 everyone was closed, so we ended up at the ihop.\u00a0 will and dad feasted on all you can eat pancakes, and we had a good time with our waiter.\u00a0 granny was thrilled she could eat off of the kids menu for $4.<\/p>\n
monday\u00a0was a shopping day.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 everyone enjoyed relaxing on the screened in porch and watching the sunset each evening.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 this morning granny decided she felt “useless” so she wanted to clean the windows.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 go granny go!<\/p>\n
while their visit was too short, it was certainly great to see everyone in this whirl wind week!\u00a0 we had a great time catching up, hanging out, and spending time with each other!<\/p>\n\n\t\t