Growing a Little Schulze: July 4th celebrations

On July 4th Jeff had to work. Of course. Penance for having Easter and Memorial day off. Can't have 'em all, at least in his line of work. So Claire and I spent the day hanging with our family. First we hit the neighborhood pool with Grammi and Paaps.

Then after Claire's nap, we hightailed it down towards Atlanta to meet up with some Schulze's to celebrate Jeff's brother Dave's birthday. We joined Dave and his wife Karen and both sets of their parents at the Cheesecake factory. If only I had picture or video of Claire when the desserts came out. Her eyes lit up. They widened as she stared at the cheesecake. She leaned forward eagerly. And when Grandpa shared some whipped cream, a pleased "mmm" sound. And then when he shared some actual cheesecake a very pleasantly surprised and pleased "mmm. Mmm mmm." as she frantically signed for more. Then after dinner I let her run off some energy outside the restaurant before sticking her back in the car. I tried to get some shots of her patriotic outfit while chasing her around.

Cheesecake!

Hey, come back...

Stand up. Don't grab the bark....

Ah, finally....

Hey, watch out..

Come back!

The weekend after July 4th was a busy one. Saturday we headed up to Jeff's sister's house to get together with the Schulze's. A late celebration of the fourth and Dave's birthday. And just to see everyone. We headed to the pool in their neighborhood and then ate too much yummy food and cookie cake.

Claire riding in style in her hand-me-down raft

Getting a push from Kiersten

Then on Sunday Claire and I went to the farmer's market and the zoo with my mom and sister. The farmer's market in Grant Park in Atlanta is pretty cool. Lots of great food for breakfast or lunch plus fruits, veggies, and meats. We had some pastries for breakfast and picked up some vietnamese BBQ sandwiches for lunch. Then we headed to Zoo Atlanta.