More Than My Heart Could Take

Our Fourth of July Holiday was lots of fun. And, I survived in spite of myself. Our family get together started after I came home and took a "nap" after my shopping outing.

It was a fun shopping outing, really. I bought new scrapbooking stuff at A.C. Moore. . . found some gorgeous yarn for a couple new baby afghans, and I even bought some embroidery thread for a couple pillowcases I want to decorate. While Mark finished at the Sprint Store, I rocked in a rocking chair outside of A.C. Moore. Nice day. . . nice afternoon.

But that's not where the heart-stopping action came in. When we arrived at my aunt's house, I realized that Edison was nowhere in sight. Someone suggested that he was out riding on an ATV. That's right. I said my 12-year old baby boy was out riding on an ATV. But, to make it even more eventful, they actually realized that he was out swimming...in the river...the French Broad River.

Mind you, because of the drought, the river is low. They released some water from the TVA dam earlier in the day, and by 6 p.m., it was getting higher. But, at the time he and Tim were swimming across and back, it was still pretty low.

Caroline went swimming in Kylie's pool, and thoroughly enjoyed it. She also has a new love of gravel. When she gets to Mom and Dad's house, she just plops down on the ground, and sits on the gravel. I don't get it.

So basically, my kids had a ball without me. This is nothing new. This does not depress me. I just hated missing seeing her "swim."

Suddenly, I hear the roar of ATV engines, and this is what I see. .

There is no way that we'll be purchasing one, but as we welcome Tom into the family, Edison is grateful to have a new "buddy" to play with. Especially one with big, fun toys.

After dinner, we all decided to go down to the river. Mark, Edison, and eventually Caroline took a boat ride. Since I was down there with them, I was able to capture Caroline's first ride.
Here are a few scenes. . .

Caroline was quite agreeable. . .to my surprise! Mark said she even liked going up and down the river!!

The final heart-stopping moment came when Edison decided that he wanted to go "tubing" down the river behind Uncle Jeff's boat. I was fine while he was in the boat, but when he was suddenly behind the boat, I was a nervous wreck.

He survived. I survived.

All in all, can you ask for more on the Fourth of July? Oh yes, I would love fireworks that make no noise. . . or at least Caroline would like that!