July 4th: An Oosterhous Celebration!

July 4th has become one of my favorite holidays; because it is the one time each year that the entire Oosterhous family is able to be together. About 5 years ago, we began this tradition, where we celebrate Grandma's birthday (and their anniversary) and eat lots of yummy food and spend most of the day on the river or playing various sports with some Wimbledon watching mixed in (this is a tennis family ya know)!



It also includes lots of good conversations (and eating) that take place on the front and back porches.....



or inside when relief from the heat is needed.....







Crawdads are caught.....







soccer games played....







canoe trips abound......





and fireworks are watched while memories are made!

In many ways it is like Christmas.... a lot of planning and craziness goes into taking care of all of the details and working out logistics in order to make sure everything goes right and everyone can make it; finally, the weekend arrives and it is always perfect... it just passes too quickly; and then it is over and there is kind of a let down that occurs when everyone leaves and the house is silent (O.K. not silent because I have 3 boys)! But after a couple of days, I'm already looking forward to the next year and starting to plan for the next big Oosterhous July 4th Extravaganza.... there is just no other way to spend the 4th than "chill-axin" in the river with family!