still working on the 4th

It was a great weekend.  That's Kirsten's dog swimming out to fetch something.  She's a good little girl.   Kirsten also made salsa.

Yes.

In the middle of the night, I ate quite a lot of it right before I took a bath and came in here to the computer.  Leftovers from the weekend, woo hoo.

 Okay, these look like weird bugs, but they are tiny little bitty toads.

 The kids gathered herds of them, and then we let them go again.

 All that swamp has done hatched out and the babies are so tiny and delicate.

Jay's parents attended a family reunion not far from the cabin.  Jay invited them to stay the night with us before driving back home again in the morning, and they agreed.

We were astonished and pleased.  They've never been up to the cabin before, although their own cabin was what made Jay so sure he wanted to do this for his family.   And then a cabin and a way appeared ten years ago.  

That's a cute picture of Jay and his mom.

 That's Jay's dad inside the house, reading.

 Dannell and Maria, both cute.

 Don't roll your eyes at me, Maria.

I stopped taking Sidney to the groomer back during the terrible years of like 2008 or 2009.  It was $50 we didn't need to spend, plus Sidney hated it so much.  Her whole body shook and trembled at the idea.

If a stranger scrubbed me down and shaved me, I'd be about as traumatized, no doubt.

So Maria and I would snip at her on a big towel on my bed.  She didn't tremble, and in fact, was often sassy.   But mostly she just let us do it.

However, we are not dog groomers, and our efforts sufficed, but were not glamorous.

 Oh but now, after Maria made her an appointment with professionals, Miss Sidney is looking sharp.

She's scared to death of fireworks on the 4th of July, and she found herself a place with a mature individual inside the house.  He was kind and comforted her.

 Out by the campfire with t.c. their great-grandson:

 I took this as we headed over to the dock to watch the fireworks.

It was a pretty nice show, I have to say. 

And then we came back and got the oil boiling for shrimp,

And the gang played 500.  Jay's mom is good, and she's also good at communicating with her partner, deducing what's going on around the table.

And then we went to bed, and in the morning Jay made pancakes before they headed back home again.

Hey, Mom and Dad?  Thank you for being with us and making the holiday special. 

Come back whenever you want.  We'd love to have you.

Love always, Jay and Val and Everybody