More Fun Than the Law Allows

I had all my aunts over yesterday for a swim lunch. It was a beautiful sunny day, but it was soooo hot and humid. Jeff was working from home, so I enlisted his help with the grill. I'm not a huge hot dog lover, but I must brag that those grilled hot dogs were the best ever. Auntie Brenda helped me grill them and they were cooked to perfection! Suz brought pasta salad, Maddie Lou brought his really good grape salad. Cindy brought PB&J sandwiches and I made baked beans and bought several kinds of chips. Barbo made a yummy cake and Theresa brought her world famous brownies. I couldn't have been more satisfied if I had eaten at the finest restaurant in town.

This is my great Aunt Maddie Lou. She's guarding the food from the unwelcome flies that heard there was a cookout with some great food. They came by the hundreds.

I just love to see my kids and their cousins and second cousins enjoy being together. I think my family is the best. I love the closeness we have; it stands the test of time and goes from generation to generation.

This is how the boy cousins spent their time. They were playing tackle football in the pool. We couldn't believe that no one actually got hurt because they were rough. When Justin -- the Marine -- joined in, Bradley informed him that the couldn't use any of that Marine Crap on them. Thankfully, he didn't. I imagine that would have taken the tackle football to an entirely new level.
And this is how the girl cousins spent their time. Playing with the little girls. What a difference between the boys and girls!
Here are three future Ms. Georgias. Jada, Alex and Avery.
Eli could stay in the pool for hours. In fact, yesterday he did just that. Other than getting out to eat his lunch, he was in the water from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. He loves it.
Justin was showing out on the diving board. Ethan was impressed!
I wish this picture was more clear. It shows what the grownups did most of the time. Although, it was so hot that a couple did get in. We joked that we needed to have Adult Swim like public pools do and make all the kids get out of the water. With all that wrestling and tackling going on, you were taking a chance getting in.It was a really fun time. Sort of a last hoorah before the kids go back to school on Monday. Suz's actually go back on the 10th.

When I'm with my cousins, it's like the old days, only better. I love my family so much and I don't know why God blessed me with such a good one. I know I don't deserve it.

According to my aunties, my ice cream was as good as MaMa Howell used to make. She was an ice cream connoisseur and made the best ever. I'm thankful that maybe I did inherit something from her. I also made some baked beans that I thought were so good. And they were so easy that even I couldn't screw them up. It's a recipe that I got off of Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen blog. Here's the recipe in case you need some good baked beans that are easy.

Candied Baked Beans
4 (16-oz.) cans Pork and Beans ( I used the big 56-oz can)
1/2 cup Regular molasses
1/2 cup brown sugar
6-8 bacon strips

Heat oven to 300 degrees.
Pour beans into large bowl and add molasses and brown sugar. Mix well
Pour beans into a greased 13x9 baking dish. Lay raw bacon strips across top of beans to cover.
Bake for 2-3 hours, or until back is dark and beans are tender, rich and thick.
Note: Taste beans after 2 hours. Cooking too long will cause beans to become dry.

Yummy and it doesn't get much easier than that.

Guess I better get to work. We've got a busted water heater. Our TV is on its last leg and we need new tires for the G6. Ugh. I don't like to spend money on any of those things. That's not the retail therapy I like.

Till tomorrow! LLL.