4th of July at Walter's and Susan's

4 July 2012--OK, so I am looking at my pictures and it has occurred to me that I am a little rusty in my picture-taking/event-capturing skills. Those 15 months sitting in San Antonio set me back a bit more than I realized!!!! haha There were family members here at Walter's and Susan's house that I have no pics of, so please forgive me...I promise to get more on the ball as the summer goes on.

Spent the day at the home of my brother Walter's and sister-in-law Susan's house, with lots of family members from both sides of the family. Except for a short period of time early in the day, the weather was beautiful. Here is Walter, Susan and their daughter Miranda (college nursing student!) along with their niece/cousin trying to remain positive as the rain intrudes on our gathering.



Some head for the umbrella while the rest of us head inside the cabana beside the pool. In the middle picture here is my sister Ellen (seated) and my sister Julie (Walter's twin), with Julie's boyfriend Mark. The next pic has Susan's friend Leslie and my sister Marie.



Once the rain stops, the kids don't wait for Susan to step away from preparing the food table...just jump in as if she is not there! haha Don't let them scare you, Susan!!!



Walter and Susan behind Susan's parents, Janice and Dick. And then we have Cathy, Walter and Walter's brother-in-law David at the parade later in the day.



Susan, Miranda and Leslie at the parade (I promise you, I tried and tried to wait for Miranda to turn around--to no avail!). With the exception of Cathy, the 2nd pic shows the whole crew who went downtown to see the parade.



Now for a few shots of the actual parade. Of course all your politicians have to show up, and I just had to include this guy...I am told he is a gay Republican for Congress, so you have to question his competence for this job right out of the chute (haha--gay and Republican just seems like a contradiction in terms to me--I am not a big proponent and never understood anyone who was a party to their own subjegation!), but he is running against an incumbent whose wife is already doing prison time for illegalities that he is guilty of. You really can't make this stuff up!



Then the highlight of the parade for me; Susan with Senator Scott Brown followed by me with Elizabeth Warren, his opponent. Susan actually went to school with Brown...surprisingly, he is even better looking in person than on TV. Elizabeth Warren definately had the larger entourage marching with her, but also a few hecklers doing the "Indian whoop" to mock her. To his credit, Walter drowned them out with his clapping and cheering for her!!! haha If you blow up my pic here, it is almost frightening to me how much I look like my father in this picture!



Walter's and Susan's dogs, Brodie and Muffin...Brodie came to the parade with us, while Muffin decided to stay home.



The Wakefield parade is the largest 4th of July parade in the state of Massachussetts and it was pretty good. From minutemen to Mrs America, to Abe Lincoln,



From Scotsmen, to cowboys and cowgirls,



Even these 2 boys who were paid to be the "pooper-scoopers", everyone had a good time.



Jack would have loved the tanks and cannons.



And we weren't really sure what this group was about, but they were the most colorful group in the parade, so everyone was attracted to them.



I have always loved a Drum & Bugle Corps...reminds me of my days in the Jays Jays!!! haha I had big white boots that I absolutely loved as a kid!!!



Remembering the fallen from Massachussetts since 9/11...not all fun and games, huh?!



So that was our day...thanks Walter and Susan, we had a great time!!! We are off towards the Cape for 2 weeks tomorrow, and then to western Massachussetts for a week after that, so we will see you all in a few weeks.