Family, Fun, Food and a Fantastic 4th

My cousin Lila came up from Goose Creek to spend the July 4th weekend with us. For starters, she and Suzi had a great time decorating a bank she to brought Suzi.

We took Lila to Mountain Rest to see some real hillbillies. We had never been to Hillbilly Day before, but thought there must be something going on there after reading that this was the 50th annual celebration. When we arrived we saw a little boy attempting to climb the greased pole. It was a valiant effort, but he wasn't getting very far.

We checked out some of the displays and vendors. Lila and I joked about the fact that some of our ancestors might have really loved to get a taste of the "moonshine" from this still.

We couldn't resist the temptation to purchase some jewelry from Walhalla designer Cyndy Wheeler. I bought Jenny a gorgeous amber necklace for her birthday as well. The quality of Cyndy's jewelry is excellent and her prices are competitive. Check out her web site at http://www.beaditdesign.vpweb.com/.

We browsed lots of other interesting arts and crafts.

Foster followed us around so patiently . . . then he got his wish . . .a plate of BBQ for lunch.

After lunch we looked around a while longer. You can't tell what you might find at Hillbilly Day. How about a "Ride to Eternity" in a heasre drawn behind a Harley?

As we left we had to stop and watch a group of young ladies giving their all in a team effort to climb to the top of the greased pole. Lots of work for a prize of only $30.

Back at home Jordan volunteered to make is famous homemade potato chips . . .the potatoes are special . . . straight from is grandfather's farm.

It doesn't get much better than this!

Suzi agreed wholeheartedly.

Then it was all over except for a late supper of steaks and salad. The kids stayed late to visit, Foster called it a day and Lila and I stayed up until almost midnight talking. She's still asleep and I just finished my least favorite job . . . cleaning the fryer. It wasn't so bad once I realized that good old baking soda and cider vinegar will cut the the sticky, cooked on oil right off . . .no need for toxic cleaning supplies! A refrigerator full of leftovers will keep us out of the kitchen today. The only thing that could have made the weekend better would have been more of our family here to share it.