4th of July Weekend

We managed to make another trip to an un-tainted SGI for the 4th.

The oil has still not made its way onshore at our piece of paradise.

For now we are making the most of our time as we know the oil will be there eventually.
(can you see the itty bitty piece of rainbow in the clouds?)

The weather was less-than-perfect, but each afternoon, the winds calmed, the rains stopped, and the clouds started to break up enough for us to spend some quality time on the beach on Saturday

and Sunday.

Eli was NOT afraid of the huge waves (such a contrast to the calm, glassy waters from two weeks ago)....although he should have been.

The undertow was intense. Despite convincing several of the boys to take him swimming a few times, we tried to keep him busy with things onshore.

It is always wonderful how SGI allows us to spend so much time with family as it such a perfect get-away spot for all of us. Eli had fun playing with his aunts. Lindsey and her hubby-to-be, Matt B. were down,

and Aunt Kristi and Steve too. (Steve didn't get the memo that I was taking a picture. Smile, Steve!)

We always eat well at the beach, but the boys did it up right and grilled up some burgers and hot dogs (Nathan's, of course).

Eli was super excited about the fireworks this year. He was eager for the sun to go down so the show could get started. It was hard to wait, but at least we had a beautiful sunset to watch while we did.

And this year, we contributed to the incredible amount of fireworks shot off on the beach. The boys impressed us with some "Boom-Ka-POW-WOW" and "Snap-Crackle-POP!"

Eli loved the fireworks,

loved his popsicle,

but was not so sure about the sparklers this year. He loved them last year....oh well. I was always a little leery of them as a kid, myself.

Here's hoping we stay oil-free for the rest of the summer. We plan to be back in a few weeks for a mini-bachelorette weekend for Lindsey before her big day....only 58 days from today! Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th!