Playing with dolls and the 4th of July

So two nieces are playing Barbie at the deck table while my dad, sister and I are talking.  The older one, Lily, is listening in a little as they play.  The younger, Stevie, is actively playing.

Stevie: (in a Barbie kind of voice) "Hey!  Look!  So and So is over!  *gibber gabbering extensively and excitedly* *she is six* We should go swimming later!"

Lily: (in an older Barbie kind of no nonsense flat voice & not even looking at Stevie) "No."

LOL!  Kind of reminded me of when we forced Ryan to play Barbies with his sisters.  He just basically was distracted and made Barbie jump up and down saying "Hi!"  It really frustrated his sisters.  PARTICIPATE!!!

Stevie wasn't perturbed a bit and kept on jabbering.  She must get this a lot.

So Robb, Meri and I spent the fourth in my hometown, meeting up with my parents at a sister's house for a cookout. I brought a rhubarb crisp and ice cream.  This was the first time my rhubarb patch has seen human hands so far this summer. 

A niece in law made jalopeno burgers!!!  Well, just a few, but I got one. Yay!

Met up with my brother later and picked up some of the wedding stuff that he'd hauled away from the reception for me.  There is still more, but we didn't have my minivan with us, so we took what we could get.  

On the dirt road to his house, Robb suddenly slams on the brake and says, "There is a golf ball RIGHT outside your door..."  REALLY?!  Well, it was back a few feet, but super!  I grabbed it.  We were at least 2 miles from the golf course.  Someone has an AWESOME swing...  We usually comb the road and ditches next to the golf course on the way to my old home/another sister's home now.

The best part is picking up the ball in the road and seeing the golfer on the other side of the fence...

:)

I've got a rather large collection of golf balls now.  However, who knows where the collected balls have all gone now.  Some are still in each car's glove box, some are in toy boxes.  I should probably start keeping them together as they have been/are my hobby to collect...

Then we stopped at the Verizon store, where another sister works and got to visit with her a little bit.  Usually we have to take a number to see her when there, so it was a GREAT surprise to get to hug her as soon as we walked in. The place was dead...  It never is!  She is a fantastic photographer and had taken about half of the wedding photos last month.  She gave us an update on how she's coming with the rest of the wedding pics.  AND she and Meri started some plans for getting Meri's Senior pictures taken.

We got home around supper time and then vegged.  We'd been on the road since 5:45am and were exhausted.  Well, not Meri.  She'd slept most of the trip so she ran out to visit with friends.  I made Robb watch another episode of Fargo with me, but then we were out.  Meri woke us up when she got home saying that she'd found a Senior picture prop.  REALLY?!  What is it?

A piano.  

I'd seen one on the local FB swap pages for free and it was sitting on their curb.  Well, she'd found it in person and it was in the back of her truck.  Um we already HAVE a piano honey...

Well, she wants this one in the middle of a field for the photos.  Not sure if Kristin will come here for the shoot or not. She indicated that she would, but yikes.  She's a busy woman...  Not sure how that will go down yet...

I made Meri cover it up before she went to bed.  So now as I look out my front window, there it is with the ugly blue tarp on top, in the back of her truck.  yay.  

I'm asking myself, how did she get it loaded?

And where are we going to put it until she's ready for a photo shoot??  

I need a bigger garage...

Wouldn't a Barbie piano have worked just as well?