Family and Fireworks, Bubbles and Blue Tongues

I am still trying to catch up on all of my July posts.  Callie and I have spent much of this month at the lake visiting with Becky, her kids, and of course, Nana and Papa.  Our "cousin camp" month started with a big family gathering at the lake for Fourth of July weekend.  In addition to Taylors & Co. we also celebrated with Grammie, Grampie and Aunt Michelle and Jon's parents, brother and his family.  The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast together.  It was a very pleasant and fun weekend.

There was lots of fun in the water.

Callie likes to dunk daddy!

The girls had matching dresses again this year.

What a pout!

Brighton and Callie started to bond.

There were bubbles!  Will carefully guarded the bubble machine from curious little baby fingers. 

And there was a boat ride.

This yummy cake that Dreama had made was a hit with everyone!

And all the kids wanted a blue star so they could have very patriotic tongues.

A FEW of Callie's Favorite Things!

So much has happened since the last post and I am terribly behind.  Our days are very busy and our weekends have been spent out of town.  Some of the pictures included in this post are from Father's Day at our house with Matt's family and our trip up to Giles to visit more of Matt's family.  There have also been visits with Taylors and I will post those pictures later.  With so many pictures to post, I will keep the text brief...So here are just a FEW of Callie's favorite things:

 BEADS! (especially official Mardi Gras ones direct from NOLA!)

Her "Callie Wagon" - with custom Grampie-made oak rails and three coats of wax!

Water - although this day she thought it was a bit too cold...

...so back to the wagon!

BUBBLES!

Grampie (and she is his favorite thing for sure!)

Kitties - this is kitty cousin Phoebe

Really, what's not to love!  I wish I could have seen Ollie when he was this little.

And let's not forget Puppies!  Callie loves puppies too.  This is puppy cousin Charlie.  I just want to clone him or steal him!

Rocking chairs!  She is getting really good at climbing in them herself and she will actually sit and rock in them all by herself.

Here she is sharing the rocker with the kids of our dear friends Dane and Kirstie from Boston.  We had a great time meeting them at Cracker Barrel for breakfast before they made their way back north to a land Matt won't speak of. 

And finally, did I mention kitties?...How 'bout big fat ones!  She doesn't leave Ollie alone.  I have caught her under our bed interrupting his peaceful nap in a place he thought was baby-proof.