Splash - July 2019

The July Splash is at Mom's new house!  Mom sold her house in Elkton (it was only on Zillow for seven hours!) and bought a smaller, but, big enough, house in Salisbury.  She's about an hour from our house in Easton and about twenty minutes from Eric and Abbey in Mardela Springs.  She's back in Salisbury Ward and so she fell in to her old group of friends.  She's rebuilding the deck, updating the appliances and plumbing.  She had most of us painting, ripping up carpet, unpacking the pods and unboxing the boxes.  She has a great big workshop in the back of her garage and three bedrooms.  She loves it and she is making it her own.

Samantha is Twenty ... ?!?!!!

The first order of business for Samantha's twentieth birthday was all about Grandmom.  Her pods were delivered and she called on the family and Salisbury Ward to start the unloading at nine in the morning.  From what I hear (cause I slept late...) Salisbury Ward was there in force and the whole project was finished by nine thirty.  Whoa.  Thank you!!

The next order of business was relaxing and celebrating.  Samantha is twenty - that's two decades old.  She is smart, pretty, and kind.  She has a very strict definition of the foods and snacks she likes, but, she's always on the hunt for her next favorite.  She just got her hair dyed - something she's been wanting for a while - now she's really a blonde.  She and Rachel and Matt are living in Fruitland, paying their way, making their path, bored one minute and busy the next.  

Samantha is always up for staying in.  She's a pro with Netflix and while she does like to be out and about - she is still a simple girl - nature documentaries on Netflix and working out at home are two of her biggest ways to spend her day off.

Samantha has her learner's permit for driving, but, not her license yet.  She's a good driver and now that she's working she is saving for a car of her own.  One day she will meet a young man she can't live without.  Meanwhile, every movie, every date, every outing, I ask - are we dating this boy?  And always, it's no, Mom.  We are just friends.  I will let you know when we start dating.

You better....Happy Birthday Sam-ba-lam.

We had a bit of a crowd that afternoon, evening to hang out - here we have Abbey, Mom and Eric.

And here we have Dan (Samantha's work bud), Rachel, Charlotte, Josephine, JMichael, Gavin and Emily.  This pool, by the way, is an exercise pool.  It was 95 degrees!

We had supper - but, you gotta catch 'em if you want to eat 'em!  Matt and Jimmie were trying to steam crabs - can you blame the poor things for trying to run?  Everyone grab some tongs - they're getting away!

BEFORE

and AFTER!  Steph (at seven o'clock), Jimmy (at one o'clock) with Samantha (two o'clock) and James (at three o'clock).

Stephanie and Abbey - sharing a moment on the dance floor.

Samantha's birthday "cake"....

See?  A watermelon works great as a birthday cake!

I included this picture because  Ginny and Sadie, standing behind me, had never been to a Samantha's birthday bash, and were just astonished that we would use a watermelon as a birthday cake.  Welcome to Samantha's world, friends!

The Fourth, 2019

 The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday - no candy, no dressing up (costumes or dresses) - just history and celebrating.  With fireworks.  That's my kind of holiday.  This year the Fourth was on a Thursday, so I had off Thursday and Friday (thank you Coon & Cole).  On Wednesday night, we drove from Easton to Chestertown to get Markel, then we went to Rehobeth Beach to meet up with Chase and watch fireworks on the beach with his family.

Josephine and Chase, July 3, 2019 

James, JMichael and me - trying to get comfortable on the sand.

Charlotte and Markel sat up on the boardwalk on a bench - Charlotte is not comfortable with the getting up and down on the sand.  We enjoyed the show - very nice.  Crowds were pretty big so we sat on the beach for a while then still sat in traffic til after midnight.  We had Thrashers.  A great evening - Happy Birthday America!