July 8, 2013

Independence Day: Abby's First Holiday

Growing up I spent plenty of time at the Bay. Donna's family own a house with plenty of beds to sleep in, grass to play on, a swing set, and a dock with boats. 

We went there for Girl Scout trips, sitting out on the rocks in the middle of the night talking about boys or shaving our armpits for the first time.

When we got older, our boyfriends came along and had Roman candle battles in the yard. That usually followed the annual 4th of July party. The first time Bean came with me was after Donna died. We had to sit in the parking area for awhile because I just knew when we walked up I wouldn't know anyone except her. Then I remembered she wouldn't be there.

They stopped having the party for a few years after the hurricane took out the house next door and messed up the one on the other side. Lucky for us, they decided to have it this year!

Abby did great. When we got there she was fussing a little bit and I worried we would have to go home. But she settled down and we all had a great time.


Here's a terrible picture on the swing set.


A better one underneath the tent.


A little better view of her cute outfit that we took off really soon after this!



I had not been out on the pier since I'd been out there with Donna. It's also where her ashes were spread. Abby got really smiley when we got out there- it could have been the place, or that she didn't have clothes on anymore! 

Sitting there, I was overwhelmed with memories. Us girls sitting two to a hammock, talking and giggling and napping. Donna taking us around in a boat and us screaming 'barnacles!' every time we went under the pier. How much she loved going really fast out in the middle of the water. Standing out in the bay in our little bikinis talking about who is cool or not. Liz and I making up a skit about Legolas from Lord of the Rings and making everyone listen to it. Singing old Girl Scout songs. Pretending to be adults at the bar in the main house. When we visited when Donna was sick and it was a huge victory when she ate a couple of chunks of canned peaches. The New Years eves we spent drinking fake champagne. Playing catch phrase. 

The memories are all over that house and I love being there.

After dinner, I decided to see if Abby liked grass since she's never been around it before.




I think she liked it.



We put her clothes back on her and Mrs. Martine held her for awhile. 



Family swing time. As Whit said, "Act natural!" There's a picture somewhere of us and our families just before the fireworks started. 


My heart.

We stayed for some of the fireworks, and they didn't seem to faze Abby. Then we got stuck in traffic on the way home while she slept. 

It was a nice and relaxing weekend. The last one we will have this month because... We bought a house! THE house! This weekend I'm headed to Austin for the bachelorette party I mentioned in a previous post, next Friday  we close on the house, the weekend after that we are in San Antonio for Jess' wedding. So I guess we will move in sometime in August. Our house is going on the market this week.

We are already overwhelmed with the amount of work we have to do: clearing out clutter, selling or donating lots of stuff, and packing everything else. We got a good amount of it done yesterday but it will be unrelenting until we move.

On that note, Abby has taken to wearing fishing hats.




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1 comments:

Mom said...

Abby is so pretty in her fishing hat! Might be a new fashion trend!