"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."
~Written by John Adams to his wife, Abigail on July 3, 1776. *we celebrate on the 4th which was the day the Declaration of Independence act was finalized.
I've really been dragging my feet on this post. Not sure why exactly. There's really no good reason, but I will say (in my defense) that I did have a really painful crick in my neck for a week and a half and so, sitting down to write a post was the last thing on my mind. Then, by the time I was feeling up to it, there were sooo many pictures to go through and it took me days to decide which ones to use and to load them. Anyway, that's enough with the excuses, right?
In case you couldn't tell by the picture and the quote used above, this post is about the 4th of July weekend. YES, that's how far behind I am! I have some other things I want to post, but I really should get through this one first. As I sometimes like to do when I'm so far behind and have TONS of pictures, I'm just going to give a quick run down of our weekend and then let the pictures do the talking. Jack took the rest of this week off, so maybe I can get him to work his magic on this post by writing the captions for the pictures below! We'll see...
We started our four day weekend off by having dinner with Mom & Dad Johnston Friday night. Sadly no pictures of that. :( Saturday....at this point, I really don't remember what we did on Saturday, but I think it was spent doing work around the house and in the yard. On Sunday which was actually July 4th, we picked up Madi's best bud, Carly, and headed to my Mom and Dad's for some celebrating in the form of barbecuing, swimming and tons of eating! Then, on Monday, Johnny Dad was nice enough to take the kids (Mimi -who was still here visiting from GA, Jason and Madison) to the lake for some tubing!
I tried my best to keep the pictures in some sort of order, but when you have five thousand pictures, its nearly impossible.
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The guys sampling some sweet watermelon on the 4th! The kids didn't like the watermelon but, I guess that's high-fructose corn syrup will do to your taste buds. 
~Dad worked hard on a scorching hot day grillin' them sausage and ribs! BAM! 
~It was hot, I tell ya! The pool was looking better and better as the day wore on.
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The kids all had the right idea. On days like this the only comfortable places are either inside in the air conditioning or, under water!
~Mimi, enjoying a pre-dinner dip.
~Papa working his Q magic on the ribs.
~Madi and Carly drying off before dinner.~Jason and Mimi drying off.
~Mimi, not real happy that she had to get out of the pool. ~Come'on Papa, lets get those ribs on the table!
~Jason is proud to be seated at the grown-up table, while I'm wondering why I'm not sitting with the rest of the kids.
~The ladies all enjoying a glass of lemonade while waiting on their dinner.
~And it wouldn't be an Olivia picture blog without the obligatory shot of a pretty butterfly and some beautiful flowers!Now, to the action at the lake. Early the next morning, Jason takes the first try out on the new tube.
~Looking pretty good but, getting a little spray in the face, at first. 
~Jason catches a little air and is overcome by terror as he drifts...Outside the Wake!!!!
~Mimi, doesn't seem to worried about his survival.
~Madi's just ready for her turn. 
~Jason reflects on his death-defying ride. ~This looks like a really good way to get hurt. 
~Hey, are those waves ahead?~Believe it or not, I was pretty sure that if I didn't try to drag my feet here, I would actually take off like a kite!
~At this point I was trying to decide which way to jump off and hurt myself the least. ~Madi and Mimi doubled up for their first ride to "get the hang of it and lend one another emotional support."
~Looks like a good time!
~It was a nice easy ride and Johnny-Dad was cutting the motor to let the girls get back on the boat when disaster struck!
~Wipe-Out Madison! 
~She looks alright, though.
~And the dynamic duo back up again. ~I can't be sure but, they look a little concerned at this point.
~Now, we're talkin'. 
~The girls are thankful to be alive. 
~Mimi and her Aunt Livvy take a turn. Guess which one is more nervous.
~Madi and Jason can't ever seem to agree on which way to lean and when.
~Terror? Excitement? Either way, it was a lot of fun to watch.
~Jason informs Madi to lean to their right in order to stay in the wake. He's a little obsessed with this, by the way.
~Unfortunately for Madi, their plan backfires as they go too far right and outside the wake on the other side. Actually, this was largely due to my devious coaching of the driver. We'll break this wipe-out down step by step.
~Doesn't look to good for the Madster... 
~Oh yeah, she's coming off for sure!
~The pole hides the carnage in this shot but, no worries, there's more to come.
Madi in the warm up pool after 100 Yard IM (above) and Madi on the diving board for her 1st event on Sunday - 100 Yard Freestyle (right). * I did include the 50 yard freestyle photos - didn't want to double up since she did two freestyle events.
