Sunny, Warm, and Everyone's at the Lake

Four Graces 

Everyone has arrived, though I have not seen Rami yet, as he most likely got in last night around 2:00 after a flight to Buffalo.  Tommy and family arrived about 3:30, Jill and Drew around 8:00 because of heavy traffic, but we held dinner till they got here.  We chowed down on Linda's sloppy joes, all gone, and hot dogs, salad and chips, after heavy appetizers before dinner.  After eating, the boys and girls got their presents, the girls their dresses and other assorted things, the boys FBI tees which Lloyd Buck was able to get me.  Of course, the girls ran immediately to put on their dresses, as the picture shows.  Then, all the kids went swimming with Evie in the dark, loved jumping into the lake, with glow sticks, also a present, and by the time we got them settled in bed, ready to go to sleep(Hayden asked if it was alright if they whispered), it was 11:00.  The adults stayed up, everyone on their IPAD playing Words With Friends with each other, a kind of scrabble on line.  I was the first to go to bed, around 11:30 and I am not sure how long the rest stayed up.  No one heard Rami get in, so let's hope he's upstairs in bed.

I was up at 6:00 though Drew beat me up by about 5 minutes; we sat and talked politics for awhile till we got sick of talking about their ineptness.  Marlena was the first up, around 7:30, then Halle, about 8:00, and as of now, Marisa and Hayden are still sleeping.  The other two are in the treasure chest, picking out their gifts.

We have decided to just relax here at the lake, instead of going to the Gorge, as it just sounded like it would be too much, since the girls were up so late.  It sounds like a good plan.  We can go any time this week, so it's no big deal.

Everyone is out of the dock, except the girls who are playing dolls on blankets on the lawn.   They are all dressed in their purple dresses and they seem to move from one thing to another, whether it's swimming, playing dolls, going to the playground, playing restaurant in the water, or just going up to our bedroom where all their mattresses are, and coming up with something to play up there.  They sure get along well with each other.  I took the boys tubing, Tommy went windsurfing, Drew's swimming, so all are taking advantage of a great day.

Great dinner of brisket, mashed potatoes, stuffed shells, salad, garlic bread, with a vicious game of spud following.  We also got the high pressure family pictures done on the first day, so that's over with, thank goodness, with no melt downs for the first time in years.  I think I should have invested in Apple years a go; we have at least four Macs here, and six IPADs, inconstant use, and 8 iphones, I think, as the boys all have one.