For the Rocket's Red Glare

We went to Indiana for the 4th of July weekend to visit our families. My sister and nephew were visiting from CA and there were a few gatherings planned. It was wonderful to see my siblings and the new nephews, along with the rest of the familial unit. Young M. has a marvelous sense of humor and had us cracking up all the time. On the 4th, we went to my cousin C's house for a big bbq and a homespun fireworks display. My mom goes absolutely hysterical over any personal pyrotechnics and was putting herself in a right state dancing around trying to protect grandchildren from certain death, until, no longer able to control herself, she grabbed him out of my arms and fled. C also arranged a traditional family game of wiffleball, in which I was surprisingly tackled to the ground. Patriotic batter

My parents are under the mistaken impression that we chose to drive through holiday traffic to visit their house and not them. I know this because frequently when we go to visit they are not there when we arrive or leave us alone for long stretches of time while they attend events more interesting than the rare time we spend together. This time they blithely informed me that they would be leaving the second evening of our three night stay because they were going on their own vacation. Thanks, mom and dad! You really put the dis in dysfunctional family.

M and me holding the babies

(This is what everyone was doing behind the camera trying to make the babies smile!)

So, we have a couple of bold rabbits that hang around our yard; they don't even head for the hills when our cat is outside, but rather calmly continue to eat our cucumbers. (To be fair, the cat seems largely uninterested in chasing rabbits. But, we did find a headless mouse in the grass today. Could Kaya have done that?) I told long-time family friend Big J about the rabbit and he immediately started telling a tale about a "mad" rabbit SWIMMING after President Carter on a fishing boat. President Carter, he said, had to beat it off with an oar. I thought it was complete tomfoolery until I looked it up and found the most hilarious wikipedia entry of all time. I never should have doubted him!