Wordless Wednesday: Revisiting the 4th

Some memories of this year's 4th of July celebration in Ripley:

At the  Downtowner Restaurant:

Great-granddaughter Cadyn shares a special moment with her grandmother, Jennifer.

Jared meets the Governor of WV,

and Cadyn does too!

Three of our family's runners in Firecracker Run:

George, my oldest son (#247 above) came in first of our family group. This was my niece Amanda's (#263) first race. Derek (#262)was happy to cross the line ahead of his two oldest children:

Haley (in b&w striped top) was ahead of Jared (#118) as they neared the finish, but he poured it on and passed her at the wire. Nothing competitive about these two! Haley finished 2nd in her class (15-19 year-olds, she's 15). She was the only one of our family to place this year, but everyone did well.

After the race and the parade I found this group playing and singing. I stopped to listen and join in on a few songs:

We gathered at Derek's for a cookout later on, to christen the new patio he built with huge cut stones, brick and fieldstone. It is beautiful--I need to take some photos to share here. Some went back into town for the fireworks, but I was happy on the patio by the fire. It was a perfect, laid-back family 4th--the only bad part is that we have to wait another year for the next one.