Happy 4th of July!

I must admit, when I was a child this was my most favorite day of the summer! We would have an all day picnic at Aunt Lorraine and Uncle Leo's house, they had a pool and horses. We would spend every minute as a child in that pool, except for the required 1/2 hr after we ate. Most years we would bring breakfast and cook that on the grill, followed by all kinds of snacks and again a grilled meal mid afternoon. All of my cousins would be there and we would take turns jumping on floats, swimming the longest distance under water, performing dives etc~it is memories like those that I want to give my children. Today we bb-qued with Grammie and grandpa as well as our neighbors~it was fun and quiet. The boys are too little to watch fireworks, but they loved the light sticks that grandpa brought for them! My favorite memories are when my grandfather would come down and actually jump in the pool~it may have happened 2 times at most, but boy what fun it was.

Uncle Leo would initiate every young child~the old fashioned way, toss you off the diving board and into the pool~he always said they'll come up; mind you my aunt and grandmother can not swim and my grandmother would throw a fit every time this initiation took place!! I loved it! I loved my uncle dearly, he was fun, full of life and a Marine. I was and am still proud of his service he gave to our country. He passed 2 years ago, after a courageous battle with cancer. One of my last memories was on my wedding day, he was feeling sick, not been diagnosed with anything and did not attend my wedding, I had the limo drive us to his house so that I could see him on my wedding day~I learned later that he was more than thrilled at this gesture, I am so glad that we did that. I will close this independence day be sending a Salute to my Hero~Uncle Leo~Semper Fi