Dear Lucas (101 Weeks),

Your letter for this week just happens to fall on one of my absolutely favorite holidays. Sure Christmas is wonderful but for the 4th of July there is no stress of sending out Christmas cards or finding the perfect present and it is not cold like it is on Thanksgiving. I love the 4th because usually everyone has the day off and you get to grill and watch fireworks and spend the day outside. Today we went to your Grandma Andrea's house. Even though we don't get to go over there as much as we do to my parents' you knew just where we were when we arrived. The first thing you did was march right in and head straight for the toys your Grandma always has out then you went to make sure your favorite hiding spot was still available. You always remembered where the hard candy is kept and where the good snacks are.

We were the first ones to arrive so your Dad got busy grilling. You were the official taste taster and you always took each bite with a wide mouth and always followed with a loud Mmmmm. I always love going over to your Grandma Andrea's house because I get to see your Daddy interacting with his Mommy and they cook together and I can just see us having family dinners like when you are grown up and have your own kids. (Oh did I mention you aren't allowed to move farther than an hour away from us when you settle down? Well, I just did and I'm your Mom and you HAVE to listen to me!)

While the food was cooking your Grandma set out chips and dips to snack on. You LOVE anything you can dip but the only problem is you don't just double dip, you keep dipping your SAME chip until it is nice and soggy and can't be dipped anymore. Your Grandma ended up getting you your very own special bowl of dip. For some reason you kept calling the chips crackers. When you would say crackers you would divide it into two words and it came out sounding more like "crack whores," and it was SO hard not to laugh. "Peeeese Mommy, more crack whores!"

Your cousin Savannah ended up coming today and I swear I don't remember you being that little... as if it was so long ago, she is only a year younger than you. What I do remember is when you would watch the big kids play and want to do exactly what they do, and I started to tear up just a little bit when I realized you are now one of the big kids.

In some ways though you are still one of the "little kids." Your Grandpa O put up a little gate he made to keep you and Savannah safely on the porch. Even before the gate went up you knew you weren't allowed to go down the steps because of the water and you never once tried. You didn't seem to sad about having to stay on the porch because you were still outside and you could still watch everything going on. You didn't even mind it that much when some of us went down to the water to fish.

You ate ALL day long and everytime someone was eating something you just had to have a bite. Your favorite person to get a bite from was your Grandpa O. From everyone one else you would take a bite and just keep going but you always had to climb up in your Grandpa's lap and stay a while. I know he loved it. You sure do love all your Grandpa's and they are all willing to share their food with you.

You ended up being so dirty from all the food you ate and all the playing outside that I ended up throwing you in the bath. Just as I was about to get you out your Aunt Sam came in with Savannah and you got to get back in the bath because there was no way you were going to be okay with another kid being in the bathtub without you in it. I'm not sure if Savannah knew what to think about all of your wildness and splashing. Even though you didn't take a nap today the water seemed to revive you and give you more energy.

After you and Savannah were all squeaky clean we all loaded up in your Grandma's golf cart to go watch the fireworks. Where she lives everyone goes down to the golf course and sits and watches them. Before the fireworks started you had a blast running around barefooted all over the first hole. The grass was so soft and seemed to stretch on for miles and you were having the time of your life. I think you thought we just brought you to this big feild to let you and Steven run around and chase each other, and that was fine by you.

When it got dark the fireworks finally started and you crawled up in your Daddy's lap. Every once in a while you would let out a "WOW!" or a "See, Colors!" other wise you just sat there with big eyes enjoying the beautiful show. Today was such an amazing day.

.

Bugga, I love you to the moon and back!