Fun with a Long-Time Friend

This weekend my VERY best friend from college came to visit with her daughter Anna. her husband Dave was on a bike trip. She lives in Illinois. Kim and I were thrust together as roommates 2ND semester of my Junior year when my roommate at the time had to leave college unexpectedly. Kim and I didn't know each other, and it was scary knowing that when I returned after Christmas break I would have a brand knew roommate. Kim was a shy, introverted butterfly wrapped in a cocoon, waiting to emerge. She went to bed EARLY and didn't know how to have fun yet. By the end of the semester she was quite the "party animal" even staying up later and having more fun than me. She emerged into the the most wonderful woman and friend that I could have ever wanted. She and I have kept in touch but haven't seen each other for 5 years! When she arrived on Friday afternoon there was no skipping a beat. It was like we had seen each other the day before. We had a wonderful time, catching up, shopping, and enjoying the kids. Thanks Kim for coming! I had a wonderful time!

Snapshots from Independance Day!

Jenna and Brittney don their war paint as they set off to gang up on Jeff. They had a backyard water fight, 5 girls vs. Jeff. Jeff just has the personality that gets him into these things. Duane, Lynn and I sat on the patio nice and dry and watched. He was quite unevenly matched.

We made our traditional flag fruit pizza and very much enjoyed eating it.

In the afternoon (all afternoon!) we played Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Jr. and Scene It. Here Duane and Lynn and Mikayla (teammates) confer on an answer for Scene It.

We battled the crowds and went to the 4th of July parade in the morning. It was so hot already! The Coralville parade attracts 25,ooo people, so it was crowded but we had a lot of fun. Jeff enjoyed getting the girls to tell all the different floats that "they rock" so they got lots of candy etc. Parades sure have changed since I was a kid. They handed out Gatorade, bottles or water, freezer pops, beach balls, ice-cream cups, and even samples of cake!

We grilled out for supper, hamburgers. And then went back in to Coralville for the fireworks. I FORGOT MY CAMERA!!! I was just about in withdrawal. Duane took some with his camera phone but they turned out too dark.

On Thursday we went to the movie Evan Almighty(very good movie for all ages) and then strolled the mall. We made homemade ice-cream in the late afternoon and ate that at suppertime, ohhhh it was good! About 8 pm Jeff brought home pizza. ( He was working)

The Statens left about 9;30 Friday morning. We had a wonderful time with them! Thanks for making the trip guys!

Hope you all had a great 4th!

p.s.- you can double click on any picture in my blog and see it up close and personal- just fyi!!

Summer fun!

After a day of swimming, we went to the famous Red Robin (read below) for supper. We were thrilled when they built one in Cedar Rapids, so of course we had to eat there with the Statens. Red Robin himself was there! (Lynn is deliberately hiding behind R.R.)

The girls enjoy the pool. (Haley, Alyssa, Jenna, Mikayla and Brittney)

Of course with every picture there is a story right. There IS reason why I have taken a picture of Duane with this juice box. When we lived in Michigan we would go to a restaurant with the Statens called "Red Robin". One day, Jeff ordered the Petite Burger. Well, he has never lived that one done. "Oh, little Jeffy, you can't eat a manly burger, but have to eat a wittle bitty burger." OK, so yesterday while we were eating lunch I noticed Duane, instead of choosing a gut rot Pepsi for lunch chose a JUICE BOX! So I had to capture that on picture to black mail him forever. The joke is on him now!!

We had a really great day yesterday with the Statens. I was up early to get the coffee going for Duane who is a coffee-a-holic. Duane is quite a miracle in himself. He has had many many many SERIOUS back surgeries from injuries on the job. I can't even think about all the stuff because it makes me queasy...(hey, I'm not the nurse in the family), like they had to drill into his back down through his stomach! Yuck!! Anyway... He is a firefighter near Detroit and has so many stories to tell of all the stupid things that people call in help for, and some really terrible stories too. Well anyway, after finally getting all better after several YEARS of back surgeries and not being able to work, (the Dr's. told him he HAD to retire-but he refused) he finally made it back to 100%. He was on the way in to work one snowy night this past winter (he was on call- and had to go in to the station) he was in a head on collision from the icy roads and went into emergency surgery. This accident almost took his life, and his words to Jeff on the phone, "Well, it could have been worse!" He really is a walking miracle. He was always dependant on God and trusted him with his future.

The pictures tell the story of the rest of the day. Today (the 4th) we are going to the Coralville 4th of July parade, where Jeff will use his "no fail ability to get candy"-read a previous blog about the N.L. parade if you missed this- and then we are going to hang out, grill out, make home-made ice-cream. And we will make our 4th of July Fruit Pizza that we make every year, in honor of the girls' Aunt Kim, who has passed away now with Cancer. She made it with them a few years, on the 4th of July, and now the girls have to make it, in honor of her. The Staten girls even remember this from 3 years ago, and were hoping that we still had this tradition. Then we will probably head into Coralville tonight and watch the fireworks.

Hope you all have a GREAT 4th celebrating our Nation's freedom! Remember to think of our soldiers over there right now fighting for our freedom from terror also!

Happy 4th!!