Quick 5

Happy Independence Day!  I always think it's serendipitous when Independence Day lands on a Friday, don't you?

1.  Remember our surprise tulip?  Apparently we also have a surprise rose bush.  Once again, I didn't know that a rose could randomly show up in a random spot, but it did.  It's near the crazy hill and one of our apple trees.  Was it planted there?  Do these things just show up?  I don't know if we'll ever know.  Maybe Lee has been weed whacking it for the past two years because we didn't know what it was.  But now that we know what it is, we're excited to leave it be and see what happens.

See the tiny pink spot in the shadow under the tree?

2.  This has been a pleasant birthday week for me.  On Tuesday Lee made me a steak dinner.  We love to grill, but our grilling is really limited to mostly burgers and chicken.  Sometimes we'll find a good deal on pork chops.  So it is a rare day when we can grill steak.  If birthdays aren't good for steak, then I don't know what they're good for.

3.  We spent the day at my parents' house on Thursday.  We went and had a picnic lunch with Lee at his work, and then the girls spent most of the day messing up Grammy and Grandad's house.  Grammy is in Canada visiting our foreign family, but Grandad was there.  The girls love him and Joya always says "Grandad is SO FUNNY!"  We didn't see Ben as much as we would have liked to, but a guy's gotta work while there's work to be had.

Photo credit: Alaina, on her birthday camera

4.  We spent the day at my parents' because we got a new roof!  We needed to spend the day away while that team did it's work.  It was worth it.  We don't really know how old the old roof was, and we knew it wasn't in the best shape.  We were always concerned that suddenly during a storm we'd have water pouring in.  So a well-timed hail storm pushed it over the edge and insurance concurred. 

Old Look

New Look

5.  And for the grand finale for my birthday week, we're going to Blue Parrot with my dad and brother tomorrow.  I don't have to tell you how much I love that place, right?  It will be the perfect ending to a delightful week.

Hope you enjoy this day celebrating our freedom!