A quick hello!

Hi Everyone, I truly hope you are feeling well enough to spend some time celebrating July 4th weekend with friends and family.  I am doing just that.  Wearing my self out in the process and reaching pain levels I did not know where possible, but hey, it is a holiday and we have friends down I don't get to see often. Plus my oldest son is here and except for a slight melt down tonight, everyone is getting along and having a great time.   You do have to expect some minor altercations when you bring family together. If you have a family that can stay under the same roof, that normally does not, add in a few more extra people and do not have any issues, I desperately would love your secret!!!!  We had an awesome picnic tonight, grilled some hot dogs, hamburgers, and chicken breasts.  Then had home made Amish Macaroni salad, homemade cucumber and onion salad, cole slaw, fresh from the farm tomatoes and corn on the cob.  Lots of conversation and laughter.  How can you beat it.  Well let me tell you how, you celebrate a birthday!!  Last year we were on vacation at this time, in Ocean City, Maryland.  Well it just so happens as of August last year I relocated to Selbyville, Delaware just about 20 minutes away from Ocean City.  Then in February was relocated again to Bethany Beach, De.  I am now living exactly 10 miles from the Apartment building where we stayed on vacation last year.  So this year, most of the people that came on vacation with us, came to stay at my house instead of somewhere else this week.  Even though we won't be here for the exact birth date, we started a tradition and wanted to continue it this year.  So we decided celebrating the birthday was going to be part of our weekend.  Last year, we snuck and my husband and I decorated a cake for a girl who we now count as our daughter.  She is actually the fiance' of a friend of ours son.  He too is thought by us to be our son, so of course we love his fiance just as much as we love him.  So this year we decorated her birthday cake again.  I love to decorate cakes.  It truly is a passion of mine.  One that I can do fairly limitedly now do to pain and lessening strength in my hands, so when I get a chance to do one, and my husband is around to help, we jump at it.  Of course like last year, it had to be a beach themed cake.  For heaven's sake we are "vacationing" at the beach.  Last year we did not have it quite so easy, since we had to bake the cake and transport it from Pennsylvania to the vacation destination, keep it a secret, and then decorate it in a unfamiliar kitchen with none of our regular tools, since of course, half way here I realized I had forgotten all my decorating necessities on the table in my kitchen at home.  This year we had a better time, in our own home with the right stuff, making the cake.  We made rice krispie treats in the shape of a sand castle, using sand toys, and graham cracker crumbs for sand.  We had goldfish graham crackers for our fish in the ocean and used taffy to make a beach ball and beach towels.  We had a ball making it, and just as much fun eating it.  The best part, Mandy loved it.  So here is a picture of the cake, my hands and arms hurt like crazy, I am incredibly wiped out, but for the smiles and fun we had, it is all worth it.

Sometimes it is just all worth it in the end when you get a smile.  Now, we have to start thinking about how we are going to top it next year.  Please take time to enjoy your holiday.  Remember those fighting for our freedom.  Be thankful for the flag and what it stands for.  Be kind to yourself, rest, do not push to much, and just let it happen.  Gentle Hugs and Happy 4th of July!