The Bunch Celebrate July 4th and Head to the Lake For Some Fun

We have had a fun couple of weeks. Well, not only fun, but a well balanced couple of weeks of hard work and fun. I have tried to be better about scheduling time to relax and do something different and not just try to get projects done. For example, even though we need to bathe the horses and paint the barn, we still took time out to go to a secluded swimming hole, but more on that later.

We had C and H over on July 4th to celebrate with us. It was a ton of fun. They spent about 8 hours over here and I can't remember the last time all my kids were together for that long! C is very good about keeping in touch. I usually see him at least once a month and he calls 2-3 times a week. While C was over here on the 4th, he asked T to be his best man at his wedding! T is so excited! T had asked him if he could be the ring bearer and apparently that was already promised to someone else so T thought he wouldn't get to be in the wedding. Boy, was he surprised. He is a little nervous about his best man speech and has already started working on it, even though the wedding isn't until December 31! C knows that he will not be giving him a bachelor party so he asked if T could go play Top Golf with him before his party. I thought that it was super sweet that he is trying to include T in all the festivities. It will be an elegant casual wedding. The groomsmen will wear boots, jeans, and a grey vest. I guess country chic is the best way to describe it. The save the dates went out last week and their formal invitations will come at the end of the summer.

We had bought over $200 in fireworks and C brought about $100 more over so we had quite the celebration. In fact, the majority of our street decided to set off fireworks this year so it was basically one big block party. This was the first year I had to drug the horses. Usually, they are fine with fireworks and gun shots (just as long as nothing scary comes like a butterfly or a balloon). However, I think the horse is developing eye sight problems. I guess it is to be expected since she is getting to be pretty old, but after I gave her some horsey valium she was fine and completely oblivious to what was going on around her.

T was so happy to be C's best man!

T played basketball while we waited for darkness.

T helped Dad set off fireworks for the first time.

A small fire started from the wrappers that were down there, but apparently D wasn't worried about it so we continued on with the show.

On one of our scheduled fun days, we drew from the fun jar "go on a day trip". Since I have taught all my kids, especially the girls, that organization is fun, A complied a list a couple of years ago of possible day trips we thought we would enjoy going on. We consulted this list and decided to go visit Unk's Lake in Perrin, Tx. I will say this swimming hole is in the middle of nowhere. After leaving the highway, we spent several miles on unpaved roads. They have no website and finding any information on it was nearly impossible. Even once we got there, we had no list of rules or where anything was, or anything helpful. I ended up just asking someone else who had been there before to tell us how it worked. You would be amazed at the amount of kids and adults who have mullets here! It wasn't very busy when we were there which was good since it is so small. They had a low dive and a high dive. There was a volleyball net set up on one side of the lake. They also had what they called a water blob which was this huge pad that the kids would jump on then another child would jump on it and the child that was already on the pad would be catapolted into the lake. It looked like a lot of fun, but unfortunately it wasn't operating the day we went. There was also space to just swim around with your tube. L brought a beach ball and D and the kids played volleyball with it for over 2 hours before deciding they were ready for ice cream. I had fallen down in the garage the day before and twisted my ankle and it was too steep for me to get in and out of the pond so I relaxed under a tree and read a book I brought. It was a wonderful day. Afterwards, we went to Villa Grande Ranch Smokehouse in Decatur. We have passed this place multiple times when we leave on trips and I had always wanted to stop, but we usually have the trailer and pets with us so it isn't possible. It was some of the best Tex Mex I have ever had. The guacamole was made fresh at our table and the brisket queso was super yummy. We all absolutely loved our meals. We might make a special trip over there every once in awhile to eat.

We found a nice shady area under some trees. I finally bought a big enough outdoor rug for all the chairs to fit on.

The pic doesn't show it well, but it was extremely steep and once you got in the water it dropped off quickly and was very slippery. Pretty much everyone slipped except me! 😂 I scooted on my bottom the whole time so I wouldn't slip!