family fun

the family started rolling in on friday afternoon. let the whirlwind begin. 

being born and raised in a drought region my BIL Sean had never done sparklers before, good thing i had a box leftover from the fourth. he also never had the opportunity to catch lightning bugs, i made him a bug jar and he set out to capture a few, he got a little too rough in the handling though and ended up with a phosphorescent thumb.

this is the whole family, they were ALL at my place although the first night my mom and step dad slept at a hotel. theres me, then my mom, step dad, brother David and his GF Caitlin, and Ken the next row is Sean, my sis Katie and their little boy, my step mom and my dad and on the ground Dominic, my other sis Lindsay and my neice Stella.
and heres what we look like when we think noone is clicking the shutter.
and the food was excellent, my mom got elected head chef but my dad and my brother mostly took the lead on this grilled smorgasbord.

i tried to cnvince my mom to stay another day but they couldnt. so its super quiet now and i have ALOT of laundry to do. but thanks to Lindsay i dont have any kitchen cleaning to do today she cleaned my kitchen after i went to bed last night, yay! its my least favorite thing. thanks, Runt.