Let the picnics begin!

We need a weekend to recover from the weekend. 

Non-stop picnics. That's what's been going on since Friday. We started with a cookout on Friday night for J and P, to celebrate their {shared} birthday. Well, I call it shared. Their birthdays are actually a few days apart. 

Steak and shrimp and golden cake with chocolate frosting. Nothing fancy. Just lip-smacking good food.

And fancy water.

Which is really just water with slices of lemon and lime floating in it. Gives it a nice, light citrus-y flavor. 

And since it's not plain water, I call it fancy water.

See K marching in the town parade on Memorial Day? And waving her flag? She didn't drop it. Whew. 

Sissy had her pool open on Sunday. Those three insane, crazy, wild people went in the I-can-see-pieces-of-ice-floating-in-this-pool water.

It was hot enough to go in the water. The air temperature was crazy hot for Memorial Day. But that water? No sirree. Not me. 

It has to melt a little before I get in it.

We had dinner with M and the Hammer on Saturday. Their son, J, made wasabi crusted salmon and cod with an orange ginger sauce. Grilled asparagus. Steamed rice. Pure deliciousness.

And he's only fifteen.

He's going to make some woman happy someday. Scratch that. He made three women happy on Saturday night. 

After dinner, the Hammer and the Man chatted it up while M and I worked on our altered books. The younger set disappeared to play some sort of video game.

Wait...are they still called video games? Something tells me that's old school now.

See E smiling on the end there? She was modeling for me on Sunday afternoon. Until I made her laugh. Then she was lost to me. I couldn't get a photo smile out of her at all. Only giggles. 

The Man and I watched K march in the Memorial Day parade. Along with a few hundred other people. It was a very small crowd this year. I think the thunderstorms that ripped through the area in the morning scared everyone away.

What a shame.

It's an honor to stand and give thanks to the men and women who have proudly and selflessly served our country.

The Man laughed the entire time the girl scouts and boy scouts marched by. We were standing by a rather large puddle and every leader from every troop/den kept saying, "And don't step in the puddle!"

You could see it on the kids' faces. They so badly wanted to jump in that puddle. It was all some of them could do to restrain themselves.

I was standing there, camera in hand, ready for the kid who dared to defy the leader. But not one did.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

~ John McCrae

These little babies went everywhere with me this weekend. I made them to bring over to M's house. And made them to bring to Sissy's house. And brought more of them to the T's camper on Monday.

Cheesecake stuffed strawberries.

Don't ask. Don't question. Just make them. And don't tell anyone. Then you won't have to share.

So that's how we ended a fun-filled, spectacular weekend. Sitting outside, under a shaded porch along the side of a brook, listening to the water flow and feeling a breeze blow.

Our fourth and final cookout of the weekend spent with good friends, eating good food, and soaking up the good weather.

Life IS good.