I KNEW it was going to be fantastic to have all the kids home, but I didn’t know how fantastic it was all going to be. We didn’t do anything really, mostly just stayed here at our house and enjoyed our time together. It is such an indescribable thing to see your children as adults, with their families all together talking and laughing and having fun. I didn't once have to tell the boys to leave their sister alone, everybody ate what was on their plate and they all went to bed on their own. After all the years of raising them, it is unbelievable to see them now raising their own families.
One of the things that was really fun for me, was a couple of weeks ago, I asked each couple to take one of the nights and cook dinner for everyone. I love to cook, especially for my kids, but they are always telling me to sit down and be with them, but HOW can I do that when everyone is going to need to eat? Plus, they are all good cooks and I thought it would be fun for them to have a chance to cook something they like to make for everyone. That was such a HUGE success that I plan on repeating every time we get together. Dennis and Abby were the first to cook. They made a Greek recipe called ‘Chicken Souvlaki’ with ‘Tzatziki sauce’ and Pita bread with a Greek Salad. Jessi and Ariel roasted 3 whole chickens over an open fire with two kinds of rice and fried plantains and yucca, all Dominican dishes. John and Rachel barbequed steak and also barbequed romaine…I have never heard of barbequing romaine, but it was really really good. On the 4^th of July, I made ribs. My parents and John’s parents and my sisters came over too. We ended the night with some really awesome fireworks. My pictures of the fireworks didn’t turn out as good as I hoped, mostly because I was not sure WHERE they were going to be in the sky, by the time I figured it out, it was too late to shoot.