Hangin'.

It's Friday and the big gathering is not 'till tomorrow so we're just hangin' out. Sandi through the glass:

Bob in the glass:

Batman had his valet (Alfred) to help him with his batshoes. James has to don his own crocs:

Batman and Batman's grandmother:

The nieces. That's Kelly at the bottom, Kenzie on the top, and Kari on the left. Kelly is the eldest and Kenzie the youngest. Kari, who just the day before got back from South Africa where she'd been for the World Cup, is, as you might guess, my favorite.

The river is maybe 75 or 80 feet from the back of the house, with a wide, grass, switchback path edged by giant rocks that opens onto a swath of lawn between the water and the last row of stones. We hauled the tables and the chairs and the umbrellas and the ice chests and the soda and the beer and the food and Batman down the path with a big-wheeled wagon and a lot of grunting and complaining, and spent the day telling stories and reminiscing. Nice to have the four kids together again.

As the temperature was in the nineties and there are NO clouds, we tended to slide the chairs around to stay in the shade of the umbrellas.