It was soooo wonderful being with my family. And in the mountains. All these years in the flatlands, I've never stopped missing them....

I only had one meltdown (well one major one, little bouts of tears happen regularly) and as soon as my nieces & great niece realized, I found myself in the middle of a big sweaty (it was HOT!!!!) huddle of love. And they held me til I got it back under control.

My brother & I had severla outtings that were fun. We took his side-by-sde up the mountain to their cabin & then around the old strip roads on the property. Saw lots of elk tracks but no elk. No bear either (and that part was okay). Saw deer right in the yard of the "big house" (where I grew up & where my brother now lives). We also drove up to Fishpond Lake which was once in the family but some ancestor gifted it to the county for recreation so he could show me a fishing dock he designed & was responsible for having built and put in the lake. They're supposed to be putting up a sign & plaque dedicating to our father for his work in forming the local conservation association and serving on it's board for more than 30 years.

My s-i-l and I drove up to check out a new bakery that was having it's grand opening. Prices were a bit high but OMG, their stuff was delicious! (And of course made my diabetic S=i-l as sick as a dog... Or maybe that was all the alcohol.... who knows?)

Thursday evening, we congregated at my niece's home (The queen of Rustic Rooster) and sat by the pool, telling tales & just enjoying being with family.

Friday morning, my nephew had us all down to his house for a huge family breakfast. I swear he cooked enough for an army!

We regrouped down there (with several additions) for the 4th of July fun. He had an amazing dinner of smoked ribs catered in and then added more dishes to it. The younger ladies had fun chasing down parachutes that we launched high into the air. The competition was fierce & a few elbows were thrown & even a few flying tackles.... The guys were playing with what I called "Roman Candles on Steroids" - they looked like big enormous pencils and they shot balls of fire so fast that it looked like something out a science fiction movie. My niece was cute as a button dancing around with sparklers. At age 50, she's still adorable! While waiting for it to get dark enough for the big fireworks, soemone fired up a karaoke machine. I laughed til I cried... And then figured what the heck & butchered "Brenda Put Your Bra On" before burying my face in embarrassment.... The big fireworks went off successfully with no trips to the ER so that's always a plus.

We dragged back up to the big house around 1am...

I was up early Saturday so I could get a shower before hitting the road - after being just too darned tired the night before. Ran down for one last goodbye hug from my niece. And they were already drinking again.... As my great niece put it: "You can't drink all day if you don't start early in the morning!" ai yi yi... I can't even imagine.

I was on the road homeward by noon. It took me about 4 hours with stops. The boyz were awful glad to see me. (MY petsitter said they - and she - were up til after 2am due to all the fireworks...)