We just returned from another fun weekend! We spent the past few days in Rockford as we celebrated Cassidy's birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Reder's along with the annual 4th of July party that we always have there. We were so excited to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Tracy and Uncle Steve and Cassie's cousins, Kelsey and Ethan. (We missed you, Burkholder family! We hope you had some great Texas fireworks!) We arrived late on Friday night - before making the drive, we stopped by the 1st annual 4th of July BBQ at the Derry/Kraus household. We loved seeing their beautiful new home and Cassie particularly loved chasing after their dog, Dublin (who kept dodging Cassie out of fear, poor thing - Cassie loves to pull hair these days, no matter whose it is). It was definitely a fun way to kick off the weekend!It's tradition at the Reder house to have a fireworks display in the front driveway on the 4th. So even though we got in late, we still made it in plenty of time to see this year's event. Ethan helped man the show this time around - lining up the next cardboard tube for Grandpa, Steve or Erik to light. They put together a great finale with shooting lights, pops, and whistles. I thought for sure Cassie would wake up wondering what the heck was going on, but not even a murmur came through on the monitor. I think we tuckered her out that day!
On Saturday, we had fun relaxing by the pool with the family. Grammy & Grandpa Brown even
came by for an afternoon visit and dip in the pool. Cassie really loves the water - she is content to be splashing around, or lounging in a baby float, or practicing swimming strokes with her daddy. Grandpa Reder even had her laughing on the huge alligator raft for a while. As long as she's in the water, she's a happy girl.After a day in the sun, we had a great dinner with some summer salads and chicken on the grill. Dessert was butterfly birthday cake in honor of Miss Cassidy! This time, she stared at the plate in front of her until Aunt Tracy came to the rescue with a baby fork. A fork? It never even occurred to me, I thought babies were supposed to just dig in with their hands and try their darndest to make a mess! Just like last time, she approached the cake very delicately - she preferred to have cake pieces placed onto her fork rather than jumping in with fingers. This time, she nearly polished off her whole piece. That's more like it! (With her last cake, she only managed a few bites!)
Once Sunday arrived, the girls headed out for an afternoon shopping trip while the boys (and Cassie) stayed back for another dip in the pool. We watched the entertaining Wimbledon match as well as the victorious Cubs game - a great day for sports! Surprisingly, the traffic wasn't too bad on our drive back home and we had enough time to pop in a movie before bedtime. It's always nice to relax before another work week begins.
So we've unpacked, and now it's time to pack up again - we leave on Wednesday for a 2-week trip to the Northwest - heading to downtown Seattle, the Olympic Peninsula, and Cannon Beach, Oregon. We'll be visiting with lots of Erik's relatives - some who have yet to meet Cassie - in addition to the Ewers family. We're looking forward to a really fun trip!
