{grand o'le flag}

Due to the good o'le Air Force Matthew had a 5 day weekend so we took advantage of free vacation time and headed up to Nebraska for a visit with family.  We had a lot of fun hanging out with Jason, Lacey and kids and grandma and grandpa at the Henry Doorly Zoo on Friday.  Then for the fourth we had a wonderful dinner with Jason, Lacey, kids, Eric, Joy, Olivia, and Grandma and Grandpa...and in keeping with the long lasting neighborhood tradition we lit off fireworks.  I have to say not much has changed in the last 15yrs since my family first moved into that exact neighborhood.  I have never seen anything quite like the way this particular neighborhood celebrates Independence Day.  It quite literally is thick with smoke and firework ash almost the whole night, and it looks like a war zone the next morning.  There was so much residue in the air over night that we had orange ash caked on the hood and roof of our car the next morning.  All in all, it was a great, relaxing weekend and we were so glad to be able to spend it with family.