One amazing July 4th!!!!

Well as promised in my last update, this is a special update about Chloe's first 4th of July and meeting Sweetness's family for the first time!!!   First let me start by saying that Sweetness' parents are deceased before I even met him, so I have not had any in-laws.  But his Aunt Joan and Uncle Bob stood in for them at our wedding and have served that role ever since, so I really do view them as my in-laws, and I love them dearly.

So this is the night they arrived, the day before July 4th, and Chloe took to them right away!!  I captured it all here as Aunt Joan sat in her room and helped her open the presents she brought for her.  This one was a wooden puzzle of animals- she loves it!

She says "Yeah- thanks for my puzzle, Uncle Bob!!"

I just love her expression here!

It had been a long day and they drove a long way, we all headed to bed not long after they arrived.  The next day on July 4th, we all headed over to my parents for a July 4th cookout!!

What a wonderful time everyone had!!  Chloe is all about her grandma these days!

Love this one of Mom with my baby girl- playing patty cake.

This is my beautiful Momma and her Chloe, just playing away as we all sat around and talked- but we stayed INSIDE- because it was 100 degrees out!

After a much needed and hard fought nap, I changed Chloe into more patriotic wear  (lol), and she was ready for some food!!  She is teething so bad these days, she constantly has her fingers like this and gnawing on them!!  I actually felt in her mouth yesterday and she has cut through her front top left tooth and the top front rigtth one is almost there too.

She kind of was passed around the table and everyone took turns playing with her, and then we had some fabulous food everyone had worked so hard to prepare.  There were at least 20 people there, and I didn't even take pictures of all of them!!

One of my favorites......sweet Aunt Joanie with Chloe (playing patty cake of course)

It was a beautiful day with both sides of my family together and the heat just zapped us all!!!
  So we headed home and got a good night's sleep, and then the next day we took them down to the beach.  Funny how tourists love the beach, but the natives never go there  :).

We went to eat at a swanky restaurant called Ocean's 31 which is right on the ocean, here is a view from our table.

   <3  Love  them!!  <3

I had our waiter take a picture of all of us, and this was the last time I felt decent until they left.  I ordered a crab cake sandwich, took 3 bites and got seriously sick.  It was soooo good, and Aunt Joan got the same thing and she loved it- but I am allergic to shellfish obviously.

So after about 20 mins I was in the restroom sick until everyone finished their meal, and then they took a walk on the beach, a short one due to the extreme heat- and we went home and I went to bed for the day.  Its unfortunate that it happened while they were here, but I know now not to eat shellfish or seafood anymore.  I thought I had a bad reaction about 20 years ago but it seemed foggy in my mind- so I thought I would try again- but never again.  This episode is not foggy in my mind at all!!!

Overall it was a lovely visit and we miss them terribly already.  I so wish we lived closer, but when Chloe gets old enough that she doesn't have to have HER crib to sleep decent, we will travel more.  I would have loved to have taken more pictures, but after I got sick with that crab cake, I was done for the next 48 hours really and they left early the next day!!  Good times and I will cherish their visit forever!!!