A great week of fun and family

We went to Lakewood for the 4th of July. The Middoughs always have a block party and invite us each year to join them but we haven't made it in years past. But this year we did and we were glad we did. Their whole family was there and we had Amy with kids and Ray and Brandie with kids with Ray, Ryan and I. We enjoyed the cool weather especially but we had great food and with all the play areas for the kids (water slides, jumpers and dunk tank) on a blocked off street and extra cousins around to play with, WOW. And then there were the fireworks. About an hour show kept them all captivated. We had "booked" the extra apt. at mom and dad's home for us to spend the night. There are 2 beds and then we had a air mattress also, so it was perfect for our family to spend the night and not have to wake up mom and dad to get in late. When we got up the next morning we spent about a hour and 1/2 visiting them and then we headed home.

Tuesday evening, Ric, Diona and kids arrived in Blythe. We swam and barbecued and just visited and passed around the baby. After a good night's sleep and we all enjoyed some more time to just visit for awhile before they headed off to visit Grandma and Grandpa and see their new home. They then went to their hotel in Long Beach and Amy & her kids headed back to Lakewood to spend the night with Ray and Brandie. Ray, Ryan and I got up at 4 AM the next day and we all met up at Knotts Berry Farm. Kathy, Angie and 5 kids also joined us there. The weather was perfect and because it was a Thursday, it wasn't too crowded. We had plenty of adults to take the different age groups on whatever rides they wanted to go on. There were the daredevils, the camp snoopy group and the in-betweens. Amy and Brandie had packed us a great lunch, so we went out to the parking lot and found some nice shade trees and had a great picnic together. Then back for more fun. We all left about 6:00 PM and met back at Ray's for a barbecue and birthday cake for Ray (Jr) 40th birthday.

Friday morning the Ric Bolton family left for more traveling and the rest of us went to the beach for the day. The kids had a ball trying out new boogie boards and playing in the sand. The waves were pretty good and everyone had good times. After quick showers and changing clothes, the group from Blythe got in our cars to head home with a couple extras (Anthony, Robert and Alisa- Josh had summer school and couldn't make this visit) We stopped for pizza on the way home and then got home about 8:00 PM. So, it was a busy week but lots of fun and so good to see so much family. But 2 days of sun really wore me out. Better get to bed now....