Family Fun

The week before our Seattle vacation was lots of fun. My brother Jeremy and his family came to visit. They arrived on June 30 and stayed til July 3. I wish they would've stayed til July 30, but they probably would've felt weird hanging out at our house while we were in Seattle. And Jer has a job that he most likely wants to keep so it really wouldn't have worked.

Left: My adorable neices, Eleanor and Naomi. Right: Drew playing with his oh-so-cute cousin Rowan (my brother Mike's little girl).

On July 2 we had a family reunion. It went really well, despite a few minor hitches like, I got lost on the way to the park (I've only lived here for three years; cut me some slack), I forgot to bring the propane for the grill, when David went home to get it he was locked out of the house and had to shimmy up our deck and go through our room (we left the door slightly open for the cat), and when he got in he discovered we had also left the brownies at home (can't have a reunion without dessert!). But once we got the propane to the park, the grill fired up and the meat cooked, everything went swimmingly. My dad made an amazing marinade for shish kabobs, and Laura made delicious veggie kabobs to go with the meat. Lura made a fantastic fruit salad (just fruit, no sauce, which is how I like it most) placed artistically inside the watermelon shell. I'm always impressed with that dish because it looks easy and people always tell me it's easy, but I've never been able to pull it off.

The Craner Family, minus my grandma Connie, who's pretty camera shy. Little does she know I have other pictures of her...

We decided to head up to Washington a day early, leaving on July 3 so we could get to Badger Lake earlier on the 4th for all the festivities with David's family. We had a lot of fun hanging out, chatting with everyone, going on the boats (a pontoon and a paddle boat). And Aunt Carmen always makes a delicious meal; ribs, cheesy jalapeno Polish sausage, spinach dip, all kinds of salads, and plenty of desserts.

It was great to see all the relatives on David's side. Both his sisters were there, and we got to meet Amy's friend Joel (or Jode, as Drew called him), whom all the kids really liked. David's grandma and grandpa were there, too, which was great considering all they've been through in the last year.

Some day I'll get some pictures scanned and posted of our July 4 festivities. But right now it's late, and we have church at the unearthly hour of 8:30. Off to bed I go and I'll post more later!