last 4th we were all so hot and sweaty, this fourth, my youngest set up a makeshift firepit in our driveway, of course i snapped this picture right after the fire had died down.
it was just in the high 60's outside....brrrrr.....
here my guys are consulting each other on the lighting of a particular air display.
i hate that the boys are lighting them, past stories from the e.r. that i have been told by my sister who is an e.r. nurse of the various body parts that are missing, or rearranged on people who have had fireworks mishaps.
but most of all i cringe when i see our neighbors letting their 5 year old HOLD the tube of roman candles as they are lit and exploding towards the sky!

fair winning

the 4th we headed to main street in historic saint charles to this place to pick up some diamond glaze. after that stop we found ourselves at the riverfront, cameraless, at the fair where just the three of us, bill, max and i snarfed funnel cakes, afterwards we had to shake the powdered sugar off our clothes that we ended up covered in from head to toe.....the lesson i learned- don't eat a funnel cake that has been drown in powered sugar facing the wind!

post funnel cakes, with stomach aches from eating way too much funnel cake, we wandered the fair and the boys spent who knows how much money playing a carnival game to win me my orangity orange orangutan....it even has a bellybutton!

my boys, my heros.

our drive

a few days ago we took a drive near a favorite place of ours to visit and saw this beautiful old barn surrounded by a crop of corn, picture perfect country calendar or postcard scene isn't it.......?

picture perfect until you see that this barn and crop are surrounded by flood waters.

while standing on the side of the road, my toes just inches from the water i looked down to see a small fish swimming, weaving in and out of corn stalks. this years crop ruined for this land's farmer.

to my left the ground was still nice and dry, but for how long, just how much further would the water level swell beyond its banks?

to my right families gathered whose homes and vehicles were underwater. the conversation was light and almost cheerful, i wondered if the reality had set in yet for them, maybe they were just thankful they were safe.

behind me, many cars parked without their owners inside.  some belonged to people like us who came to see just what mother nature is capable of up close and personal, not on the t.v. screen. some cars belonged to those displaced from their homes by the rising flood waters, and a couple belonged to workers, dressed in jeans and bright yellow matching shirts, not speaking english, workers who showed up as close as they could get to work waiting for someone to tell them to go home because there would be no work as long as the river was claiming this land.