July doesn't really kick off until we are together as a family, celebrating Mom's birthday. We always have Party Crackers with our cake, which thus always results in crowns for everyone. Happy Birthday, Mom!
The 4th was a little misty, but that meant it was not a scorcher. As we do every year, we walked to the end of the street and found our spot for prime parade viewing. And there, through the trees is Red's. Still a line a mile long, even during the parade.
We came straight from the croquet court (white shirts, obviously mandatory) and DickieJ is clearly still miffed about the shellacking he took at the hands of a gentlemen with pinwheels on his head. (Mo and I still don't believe that pinwheel-boy hasn't been practicing his skills on the sly.)
I attended my first Copley Fine Art Decoy/Sporting Art auction in Portsmouth with Mom and Dad. Wow. I had known about the collector's market for decoys, but had no idea how valuable they can really end up being. We had a great time and did a little shopping. Fun, fun, fun.
The hydrangeas at 15 were a pretty new color this year, and they looked really gorgeous with my old Dorothy Perkins. (So sad they don't grow them anymore... Must remember to take some cuttings.)
Front Garden
Hydrangea Bed
Back Garden
Manchester United stopped in Foxboro during their US tour, and we weren't missing it. Naturally, I set about putting together our tailgate (Quote from Matt: "Bethany, you realize we are the only people in this parking lot with fresh-cut hydrangeas, right?")
But before we could set up said table festooned with fresh-cut hydrangeas, we had to sit in the car in the parking lot alongside 40,000 other antsy soccer fans for, oh, almost an hour during an absolute monsoon. Here's what we feared might be the sum total of our tailgate:
But the skies cleared, and the game went on. I dutifully booed Ryan Giggs on behalf of all women and Twitter loyalists, and laughed at the unintentional horseshoe in Wayne Rooney's new hair transplant.
The Revs gave them a good first half -- had a few good scoring chances and held them to no goals -- but the second half was Globetrotters-esque, according to Mo and Pruitt, here with their fabulous scarves in July.
I love Darren Clarke. He's my absolute favorite golfer. This picture was floating around on Twitter, and just seems to say so much. Champion Golfer of the Year. Love it.
At the "6th Annual Forwards-Only Weekend in the Woods of New Jersey", they decided to roast a pig. Um, yeah. No further comment from this department.
While killing time waiting for the pig to, I guess, roast, Todd and Gary worked on their Siamese Twin Halloween costume. I don't even know where to start.
I got to spend the most fun day with Suzy and the twins. This is Emma, and she and her sister Katelyn were cool as cucumbers when the fire alarm at Ikea went off as soon as their mother and I got upstairs into the chair department. We had to evacuate immediately. With a giant twinsy-stroller and double the baby-gear. And no elevator. Kudos to the staff there who kept calm, communicated clearly and got us out safely. Especially to the guy who pointed to the girls and said, "you guys each carry a baby, and I'll get the rest of your stuff down for you." And he did. No tears, no muss, no fuss. Also, no shopping because we weren't waiting around in the heat of the parking garage until the Stoughton Fire Department let us back in. Had a great dinner with the whole Decker family, and had a blast seeing what's the what with my girls on a Thursday in the summer!
I didn't think I could do it, but after dinner at the Deckers, I made it back to Ikea at a hair before close. I ran in and grabbed our patio chairs and brand-new couch covers (in an effort to provide a cat-hair free environment for allergic visitors. [Can't win 'em all, oh well...]). Ruthless efficiency! Boom!
And my favorite picture of all: Mom's last chemo! Thank you to all of the fabulous staff at Mercy Hospital Oncology in Portland. An amazing place, with amazing people.
