A Fine and Fabulous 4th

I started this entry last night when we returned from the beach, but I couldn't make my body work.  I was so tired.  Fireworks started here around 8 and Walt discovered you could see them from out on the street, so everyone went out to watch.  I decided to just "take a minute" to sit in a chair and close my eyes. Next thing I knew it was midnight and the house was dark.  I crawled out of the chair and onto the couch and went back to sleep, waking at 6 this morning.

I'm not sure why I was so tired.  It's not like I did anything strenuous all day (most of the work was done by everyone else), but maybe just being outdoors all day was enough.

The day started with my peeling and stuffing all those eggs I'd cooked the night before (36 of them).

While I was doing that, Walt, David and Joe were loading up Joe's truck with food and stuff to take to the beach.

Over at Tom's house, Ned and Marta had come back to life and were frolicking in the hot tub with Bri and then loading up Tom's van with even more stuff than Joe had.

By the time I got to the beach, Things were getting set up and Joe was busy spiking a watermelon...

...while Tom was getting the fire going in the BBQ pit.

When Joe donned his chef's hat, it was time to get down to business.

Bri was in 7th heaven, with one of her special people around.  She was very possessive of Uncle Ned and really didn't want anybody else to interfere.  I love watching him with her.

It's funny how she has come to finally like me and when we are there visiting, she doesn't act afraid any more, and will talk to me and sit with me, but when Ned is around, she doesn't want to have anything to do with me and even if I try to take her picture, she hides her eyes.  I don't exist when Uncle Ned is there.

As for Grandpa, he had a good time bonding with Lacie.

Bri changed into her bathing suit and, despite the cold weather, went running off with Uncle Ned to play in the ocean for a bit.

When all the food was ready, everyone filled up their plates and sat around eating

I loved sitting with Tom, Walt, Ned and Marta and listening to Tom and Walt compare seagull stories.

Bri and Marta shared HUGE marshmallows dipped in chocolate and pretzels.

We had so many of those big marshmallows left over that Ned took them to other picnic groups to ask if anybody wanted any.  Within seconds he looked like the Pied Piper, surrounded by children, all clamoring for a marshmallow.  One little girl's mother told us that her daughter had been looking at those on the table, every time we passed by, wishing she could have one, and was so thrilled when she saw Ned giving them away that she raced across the grass to get hers.    

As the day was winding down, the seagulls started circling, waiting and hoping for leftovers.

Joe used his hat on the BBQ pit as a kind of scarecrow, which actually worked for awhile.

And then it was all over and time to go home and collapse!  It was another great day in the annals of Tom and Joe BBQs!