July 5 – “Wild, Wonderful, Wacky”

Fourth of July?  Oh, it was just another wild and wonderful and wacky day around the Vaughan house.  All ten of the grandkids made their way to our humble abode. Oh, and they brought parents with them as well.  The only one missing was April, who had to work in the emergency room to take care of all the holiday crazies.  We missed you, April. 

Here’s a tiny glimpse into the day’s chaos: 

There was a wedding going on.  (I'm still trying to figure out this girl thing.  So is Josh.  How is this stuff hard-wired into their system?).  Cailyn was the consummate wedding coordinator (Possible career direction, Nathan and April).  Noa was the bride, all dolled up in dress up clothes, with her hair done by the designer (also Cailyn).  Problem was, they couldn’t find a willing groom.  For some reason, with all those boys in the house, not one of them would agree to that bit of pretend.  Video games just seemed more exciting to them at the time.  The girls finally settled on Luke as their prey.  And Luke responded as all little boys should when faced with that scenario.  He ran screaming through the house yelling, “Don’t marry me.  No wedding.  Not me.”  Attaboy, Luke.  Now he did finally succumb to their feminine wiles and agree to the game, “But no kissing.”  So the girls had blankets strewn throughout the house, “because the bride can’t walk on the ground, especially in a royal wedding.”  Like I said, anybody need a wedding coordinator?

Meanwhile, AnnaGrace had discovered a stash of stickers.  She was hard at work transferring them from her clothes to her shin to the wall to the bookcase to the chair … a never-ending task. 

The older crew started a game of nuts.  Kel was winning big.  I was doing somewhat mediocre.  I was happy to leave.  Everyone else was happy for Kel to leave.  So why all this talk of leaving?  Well, that would relate to the phone call Chris received.

Joe and Cindy, some Seaside friends, are Moody Gardens volunteers.  After their shift the found their truck battery dead as a doornail out in the parking lot.  They needed a jump and we were the closest around.  It took us longer to find them than it did to jump the vehicle and get them on their way. 

Last night we decided we had time to make it to the Fourth of July parade and fireworks show.  We parked behind the Academy parking lot, a pretty good spot, actually.  Walked right up to the seawall, set up chairs, and the parade was suddenly in front of us.  Couldn’t have planned it any better.  After the parade Chris and I stayed with the chairs to hold our spot while Josh and Christi took their family down to the beach to get some sand between AnnaGrace’s toes.  She wasn’t all that happy about the sand, but she was impressed with the “Big Water.”  They made it back in plenty of time for the fireworks.  They were pretty impressive as well, albeit the show seemed to move like it was in slow motion.  The finale was good, though.  And about the same time as those last fireworks lit up the sky, Evan Gattis hit a sacrifice fly in the tenth inning to lead the Astros to victory over the Rangers.  Giles even got a save without blowing it.  Good night all around.

Psalms 75:1 says, “We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds.”

Father, thank you for special memories in all shapes and sizes.  Amen.