Happy July!

Well, here we are now in July and we had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. We have officially been in Eaton Rapids for 6 years. We moved in on July 4th 2003. Wow, where has the time gone. Now we have 2 boys who are "native" to ER!

We had fun on friday at Toddler time, at least Cody and I and the one other family who showed up. Then we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon at home. Then we went and helped the Johnson family clean up their yard from a tree that had fallen on their home. The little boys (Cody and Josiah and Brady and then some other boys who came later) played and hauled sticks around. Ken and I were the keepers of the fire to burn all the branches. Dan was brave and cut the tree down in the cherry picker that was swaying in the wind! Heather helped haul logs and cut a few and she was the hostess and we all pitched in to keep everyone safe. We ate vension/beef hamburgers and had a wonderful time meeting new friends and having a picnic/bonfire.

Saturday morning we enjoyed the Eaton Rapids parade which is now a favorite tradition! WE love the parade and all the fun things to see. I liked the bag pipe band as it gave me chills thinking about how my grandpa Buchholz would have enjoyed them too. Cody's favorite was the one "monster truck". Brady just enjoyed all the festivities, but I think the favorite was the tractors! Ken's well, he enjoyed eating the toostie rolls that were handed out, and just hanging out with the family. Then we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon around town at Burger King, and then the park. We decided to park the van at the park so we could walk into town to enjoy all the festivities. After the parade we walked down to Burger King for lunch. Cody of course enjoyed getting "a toy" with his meal. That was another highlight for him. At the park we played and watched a Civil War Regiment Band play some patriotic tunes. Then home for a refreshing afternoon watching some movies. The highlight was then for the fireworks. I was so excited to be able to go and watch them this year. So we all packed in the van and got our pizza and ate it at the park, Cody was exhausted and so he fell asleep in the van around 8:30pm. We then went and waited for the fireworks. Cody still asleep... and he even slept through the entire fireworks show... with the crowd cheering and setting of the small fireworks close by and the big ones off in the distance! This kid was truly sleepy! He did of course wake up as we were waiting the parking lot to leave... He woke and said " I want to go to see the fireworks!" Oh well, maybe next time. Brady and I sat outside the van and loved every minute of the fireworks! Brady pointed to them and made sounds of excitement. What a fun memory, and I will post the pictures in a slide show!!

Sunday we enjoyed another fun celebration/family renunion of sorts. My aunt Nancy was up from Florida and we have not seen her in about 4 yrs. So it was great to see her again and have her meet Cody again (he was only one month old when she saw him last), and Brady for the first time. All the Buchholz side or at least 90% of them were there! IT was a wonderful time and we ended the beautiful day with more fireworks, this time right under them! My brother Paul and his wife Karol brought along some awesome fireworks! They were fantastic!!!! Again we all were safe and loved every minute of the show. Including the sparklers and hot air balloon firework thing. Again great food, a tradition of Grandma's Macroni and Cheese, hot dogs, bean salad, fruit, and yummy jello cake, brownies and jello hit the spot several times throughout the day!

So this week we are getting back into our schedules of therapies, doctor appointments and whatever comes along the way! I am working on slide shows of all the pictures so those are coming. Happy 4th of July and all that life has to offer!