4th of July in Richmond

Christian and I left Shane alone to cram and drove down south to spend the long 4th of July weekend with my cousin Darla and her sweet family. They just moved into an adorable, new-to-them ranch-style house and Christian was immediately taken with their large backyard (okay, we both were -- after four years of apartment living we will never take a yard for granted again).

June was kind enough to show Christian around her new outdoor digs, which include a trampoline, swing set and very popular garden hose.

We swam, we ate BBQ, we swam again, we brunched, we napped, we ate BBQ again. It was tough but someone had to do it. Oh, and we tagged along with the cousins to a fabulous birthday party, complete with a moon bounce, water games, and a tire swing.

Cole and Christian couldn't get enough of the water games.

Dayne and June swinging their hearts out.

And this photo cracks me up because June is sitting at the end of the slide serenely sucking on a lollipop while Christian goes wild.

I only wish I'd thought to take a picture of us adults so we could look back at it when we're old and gray and think: we really didn't look half bad!