Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!!

Our 4th of July this year was a little bit different than in past years.  Normally we are at friend's house for a cookout and pool party but they didn't have one this year.  I knew that in the evening we were probably going to either end up in Rockport or Owensboro to watch the fireworks, but for the rest of the day, we didn't have any plans.  Since I knew we wanted to end up in one of those two places, I looked for something to do south of us.  I decided on Bowling Green and going to the Lost River Cave Tour - it's a cave tour via a boat that I've seen advertisted before.  I then decided to have lunch at Double Dogs Restaurant.  Upon further investigation of the cave tour, I discovered that they weren't giving the boat tour portion because of all the rain that Bowling Green had been getting.  Well stink!  I wasn't sure what we were doing then, so we just went ahead and got ready and headed to Bowling Green to at least eat, and then see what else we could find to do.  

We had lunch at Double Dogs.  When I found it on Trip Advisor, I knew I had seen it somewhere and realized it was on a Travel channel TV show.  It had good reviews so I thought we could give it a try.  We got there around 1:00 p.m. and were seated right away.  Shawn ordered a burger and fries and I got the chili dog and Thai pasta salad.  The burger and chili dog was OK, but the fries and the pasta salad were amazingly delicious!  I'm gonna make that pasta salad for our next cookout!

Shawn brought his golf club just in case we happened upon a golf course he wanted to play.  There actually happened to be one behind the restaurant.  He wanted to play 18 holes, I told him I was only riding for 9 holes.  Since we couldn't agree, he didn't play.  HAHA!!  It was his decision, not mine!

We did a little shopping at Hobby Lobby and Tuesday Mornings - I was looking for some new throw pillows and decorations to go with my new sectional and living room re-do.

After that we decided to head back home.  My cousin Jess lives in Morgantown and I know that her mom and dad usually visit her on the weekends.  I texted Jess on the way home to see if they were there, which they were, and then asked if they wanted company, and to keep it a surprise.  I thought it would be fun to surprise them. Not only did I surprise them, I also surprised some other family who were coming over too.  And I was surprised cause I wasn't expecting to see everyone either!

We stayed and visited for a couple hours and enjoyed a delicious meal that they cooked out!  We had steak, burgers, hot dogs, baked beans, potato salad, chips, and no bake brownies - both chocolate and peanut butter.  I'll be making these for our next cookout too! 

After we left there, we flew down the highway to make it to Rockport in time for the fireworks.  Of course we got there late and didn't know where any of our friends were sitting so we just put our chairs in the field and enjoyed the rest of the fireworks.

I had plans to set my tripod up and try my hand at photographing them, however that didn't happen and all I ended up with were cell phone pics :(  

Since we missed Gavin at the fireworks show, we ran over to visit them for a few minutes and watched him do his big sparklers!

Definitely a different 4th of July than we are used too, but we had a lot of fun traveling for the day and visiting with family that we don't get to see that often!

Jessee Reunion 2013

Last Saturday was the annual Jessee Reunion.  This is our 4th year of having them again and it was another successful reunion! This year Shawn and I made the trip down there with Bethie, Gavin & Tommy.  The boys were in the back and were complete ADD overload, with the exception of Gavin.  He was the quietest one on the trip!

I made chocolate cupcakes with homemade cream cheese icing, however I didn't make the icing quite right, so it was a bit runny.  It still stayed on the cupcakes and everyone raved about them.  I also made a 7 layer salad.  It was good, but I wish I would of put a little bit more mayo in it.  There was a fair amount of it leftover, but after sitting out all day, I decided I better pitch it. 

Those in attendance this year were:

Me & Shawn
Beth, Tommy & Gavin
Sissy & Bradley, Jessica, Kim & Elijah
Jessica's neighbor girl, Jamie
Daryl
Billy Herb
Trisha, Elvis & Hannah

So not as many people as in the past, but enough to have a good time.  And the weather was perfect this year!  Generally is so sweltering hot you can't breathe; this year is was in the high 70's with a slight wind.

We left around 5 or 5:30, but everyone stopped at the ferry and road it back and forth across the river.  It was a quick trip, but fun and something we've never done before.  We also drove down to the boat ramp going into the river and got out and walked around and the kids frolicked some in the edge of the water.

Shawnie signing the book.  For as long as I can remember, we've always had a book at each reunion for everyone to sign.  

 

Playing cornhole!

 

 

Gavin waited patiently all day for someone to take him to the playground.  We walked over, he climbed up to the big slide and then decided not to go down it :(  He eventually went down another slide, but there was a huge drop to get off the bottom of the slide.  Gavin got upset when I wanted to take his picture instead of helping him down.  #tiredcrankylittleboy

 

 

Singing some Christian music

Each year we take a group photo.  I always set the camera on the tripod and timer and set it for 10 pics.  The first couple I hope everyone is serious, then after a few flashes, we get silly...

...we've got some people making crazy faces, some giving thumbs up, some flexing their guns, and one popping his teeth out!



 

I'm not sure what my husband is doing in this picture :/ 

 

  

 

The little and big kids had fun playing with water balloons and chasing each other with water! 

Taking a ride on Reed's Ferry

 

Hanging out at the boat ramp and frolicking in the water 

Jessee Reunion ♥ 2012 ♥

Originally drafted June 14, 2012

This past Saturday was our Jessee Reunion.  This is the 3rd year of them since we started them back up.  It was held at one of the shelter areas at the Charles Black City Park in Morgantown, Kentucky.  Shawn and I picked up Beth and Gavin and headed off to see family and eat some yummy food!  Beth made cole slaw this year and I made 7-layer salad (which was delish!) and bought the "Jessee Reunion cake".  It was yummy too!  We all had a great time visiting, eating, and playing games!  And this year, I got a group photo before anyone left!