smith kids on the 4th!

When I say "Smith kids", I am always referencing me and my brothers.

Always.

On this 4th of July, we were all three of us gathered together again, as we had been for my birthday, but at Tony and Laura's house.

Wonderful!!!

Smitty had noticed me lining up the photo, but he just smiled and didn't tell the others.

Nice!

Tony had grilled or smoked every kind of meat he had, including pork ribs, huge beef hotdogs, beef brisket, and hamburgers - enough that we all took food home!

Laura made potato salad, baked beans, and her own pico de gallo!

Mary brought a key lime pie, I brought cheesecake, and Laura had chocolate cake.

What a feast!

Tony offered the blessing of the meal, and what a fine one it was!

I always think of Grandpa with Tony's blessings... Grandpa would have been so proud!

(smile!)

And the discussions we had today... very nice!

Even Mary joined in this time!

And what did we talk about?

Movies  with Jake Gyllenhaal and Gerard Butler, actors in television shows, my outing to the cinema with their grandkids, and the upcoming "At The Movies" sermon series at the church they all attend!

Tony made a point to invite me, twice, so I'm going!

Every time anyone has ever invited me to attend their place of worship, I always go.

I know that to be them sharing a piece of their heart, so I accept.

(smile!)

I think part of the reason he invited me was the first movie in the series.

That will be "Top Gun: Maverick", which he knows I had highly recommended to them after I had already seen it twice.

I look forward to that sermon!

(smile!)

 

I was sure to share that photo with my blue-sky Penny, and guess what?

She sent me a picture of her with Steve, their son Alex, and her mom, my Aunt Linda!

How very nice!

(smile!)

 

And when I sent the photo through the ether up to Michigan, I got one in return, too!

Jeff and Amy were celebrating at a cookout, just like us!

Theirs, though, featured polish sausage... of course!

He's looking pretty good and his blood pressure is great.

The Ozempic is doing the trick at shedding pounds for him.

I'm glad his doctor decided to go that route!

(smile!)

 

And I know there's the question of fireworks, right?

Especially as I didn't have a baseball game with them, even though they tried.

However, here's Barbara to the rescue!

And get this: she had never seen fireworks over the ocean before.

But she's in Crescent City, where it's in the 50's and she's freezing, even with three layers of clothing, because the breeze off the Pacific is always chilly...

and she has this stunning view.

Families were lining the length of the beach, with bonfires below and fireworks above...

she had never seen anything like it.

As I told her, she had no trees or buildings to detract from the view, just fireworks like flowers bursting into bloom in the night sky.

Amazing!

(smile!)