Lady America's 234th Birthday

July 4th marked the 234th birthday of our country. Celebrating this day has always been extra special for my mother's side of the family because her father and two brothers served time in the United States military.

Our family's Independence Day celebration has increased in magnitude every year since I can remember. We started celebrating out at Lake Nocona at my grandparents cabin. I can't even remember there being any real fireworks besides sparklers, worms, and poppers. It was a family affair of roughly 15-20 people. I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade when my grandparents moved to Wichita Falls. The first few 4th of July parties at their house on Turkey Ranch Road were still family gatherings, with a few close friends here and there.

Then the grand kids grew up and one young man in particular became what we like to call "the family pyromaniac." My cousin Tyler is one of the most talented guys I know. He is smart, musically inclined, and a dual-sport collegiate athlete. Oh, one more thing...he LOVES to blow things up! Due to Tyler's increasing interest in fireworks, his assortment of explosives has grown from a couple hundred dollars to couple thousand dollars. Neighbors and people from around town used to line the street just to watch what was going on in our yard on the 4th of July. So for the last few years, we have opened up the celebration to anyone.

July 4th, 2010 marked the highest turnout with approximately 200 people. Everyone brings their own lawn chairs, as well as side dishes and beverages...while our family supplies the meats, venue, and entertainment. This year turned out to be a bit of a bummer for Tyler. Due to scattered thunderstorms and high winds, he had to cut his fireworks show in half. He was prepared to put on a 22 minute show, but it was cut down to about 8.5 minutes. Just like last year, the rain came down as soon as the show was over. Tyler's band, The Tyler Rushing Band (http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Tyler-Rushing-Band/128069730559278), had to cancel their outdoor show as well. I think a few of us have already started praying for NO RAIN next year!

Check out Tyler's youtube channel and watch his fireworks show from this year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy3Nrs076oc

Nice Day for a Swim!

Cliff's pup is growing up so fast! We took Jake out to Cliff's parents' house on Saturday to let him have his first water experience. We had no doubt that he would love it, but obviously being first-time parents, we couldn't just let him go alone. He started out by walking around on the steps in the shallow end, but after about ten minutes in the Texas heat, he decided to go for it and swim around by himself. After Jake was confident enough to swim in the deep end by himself, Cliff threw a "water bomb" ball into the water. Jake's first attempt was not too graceful...as he tried "digging" the ball out of the water. We could tell he was quite frustrated as he sat and barked at the ball, so finally I gave him a "love tap" into the pool. It took only a few more tries of just falling into the pool for Jake to realize he could actually jump to the ball. We were so proud of our little swimmer! Can't wait for him to start running and diving to retrieve!

He wanted that ball so bad...

His first jump...

Water-logged...