a little late, but better than never.... our 4th of July weekend

Since we went to Indiana for Britton to meet Kyle's family he is going to blog about our weekend!

We thought it would be a great idea to surprise my grandparents with a visit. No one on my mom's side of the family has yet to meet Britton and since I was getting a 4-day weekend from work over the 4th of July, we thought this would be great time for Britton to meet his great grandparents. (The Presnall's).  My mom and I joked how it would be funny to set Britton on the door step, ring the door bell and run but thought maybe it would be better another time when he can actually stand on his own. :)

My grandmother usually gets her hair done on Friday's but this particular Friday she decided to cancel her appointment. Little did she know that not only were we surprising her for the weekend, the Presnall clan was throwing a cookout for the 4th at my Aunt's.  

We passed through Gas City and my mom called her to talk to her on the phone as if nothing was going on. As we entered the driveway my grandma told me mom she needed to go because my mom's sister had arrived to help her with her groceries.  I guess really my mom drove 6 hours to help her with her groceries. As we unloaded and I started walking to the front door carrying Britton, you could hear grandma yelling from inside the house....she spotted us!  I walked in and introduced Britton to his Great Grandma, Britton did not take the introduction to well and started crying. Boy, how my grandma had wished she didn't cancel her hair appointment.....j/k grandma, your hair looked great!  Britton warmed up as he is usually bashful at first when meeting new people and let her feed him a bottle.

The Presnall family is really large. I would say only about 20 members were able to attend. And what a I mean about only is that my mom had 6 brothers and sisters. They in turn had 2-3 children of their own. Then in turn, my cousins, have 2-3 children of their own so you can see the family just keeps growing and growing........by the minute it seems like.  So Britton had plenty of people to meet on Saturday at the cookout. There were no shortage of arms to pass him around.  Poor guy, I feel like every time he wakes up he is in a new stranger's arms, or in a different house, city, state.

Britton meeting Braelyn

Britton with his Great Aunt Robin

Wesley singing to Britton

Britton and Brianna

Great Uncle Joe took the big kids for a ride on the tractor

So on the 4th we tried to kill grandma, not on purpose of course.  My cousin bought enough fireworks to compete with Nashville's own firework display.  The plan was to let the little kids shoot the fireworks while the adults watched. It started to sprinkle so most of us sat just inside the garage to where we could see up in the sky for the explosions.  We worked our way down to the large fireworks. A large cannon was lit and as everyone ran away from it, it tipped over. The fireworks began shooting randomly. First, towards my car, so i muttered to Renada, "Well there goes the car!" A second shot went straight into the corn field, no harm.  But then one shot right at us striking the brick wall next to my Grandma's head then landed on the driveway and exploded. Next thing I knew Grandma was about 20 feet inside the garage and everyone was asking if she was ok. Just so you know my grandma needs help of a walker or wheelchair to get around so for about 1.5 seconds she regained the speed of a mongoose and reflexes of cat. I have never seen her move that fast in my entire life.

The trip was great and the corn was just a bit taller than Britton. We will see them all again and the many we missed on this trip in December when we all get together to celebrate Christmas.  I can't wait for all of them to see Britton again as I know how much he will change in the next few months. By that time he could be walking and talking, driving a car or applying for college. As least those last two events seem like they are approaching faster than we know it as these past 6 months have been going by so fast.  I remember giving Britton his first bottle in the hospital and thinking how crazy it was that I was a dad and what do I do next with him.  Now he is what a like to call a "nut", he cracks me up all the time, his smile is unforgettable and I cannot imagine him not in my life. I mostly need to thank his mommy as she has been patient with me and "coached" me on what to do next.