Stars & Stripes

This was Alexa on Friday afternoon. The doctor said she just had a cold... the good news was there was no fluid in her lungs or ears, the bad news was that it would take 3-5 days to work itself out of her system. After lots of watery eyes, sneezing, coughing, and sleepless nights, Alexa is feeling MUCH better! Yesterday was free of all cold symptoms, she was in a fabulous mood, and last night she slept (in fact as I type at 7:22 am, she's still sleeping). Thank you all for your prayers for her health!!!










Alexa and Natalie at our 2nd Annual 4th of July Cookout.










Baby Alexa & Mommy posing for a quick pic. Leylynn and Alexa playing in the grass.










Cathy and me with our daughters. Spending some time with my girl, Tiffanie.










Happy 4th of July - Love, The Ritchey's :-)













Daddy has Alexa all ready for bed. Daddy and Alexa on Sunday morning.










David playing. Dan and Alexa with the BEAUTIFUL sky yesterday.










Natalie and Alexa playing in their grandparents' backyard.










The grandkids from oldest to youngest. Alexa and Natalie fascinated with one another.










It was frustrating to start our holiday weekend off with Alexa being sick. As I already wrote, the doctor pretty much told us there was nothing we could do. So we stayed home Friday night, gave Alexa some Benedryl and hoped that sleeping would make her feel better. She didn't sleep well at all and woke up pretty much the same on Saturday. She began to feel better though as the day progressed. We had a wonderful cookout on Saturday afternoon with various members of Dan's family and a hodge-podge of our friends. We had tons of delicious food, and it was just nice to visit with everybody! Who knows when our 3rd Annual Cookout will be because next year (I've already informed Dan) we're going to be in Perry for July 4th (so that we can show Alexa fireworks on the lake!). Some of our friends stuck around into the night and we enjoyed a little campfire (thank you boyscout/pyro, Dan). It was a really long day for the two of us, especially since Alexa not sleeping the night before meant neither had we! It was worth it to spend time with family and friends though :-)

After going to church yesterday morning, we went out to Pataskala to have brunch with Pat and Becky, Andy and Cathy, and the kids. Unfortunately, Natalie was beginning to feel sick so I set the boundaries that I didn't want the kids next to one another and I didn't want P&B or A&C to touch Alexa. I know that's harsh, but she was just getting over being sick, and I didn't want her to have to go through it all over again!!! Anyway, we enjoyed a nice lunch and then went out back to play. David played with a little football, golfed, and played with bubbles. Natalie crawled around. Alexa, well, she just sat there and watched her cousins :-) Us adults sat around, enjoyed the gorgeous day, and took pics. When it was time for David and Natalie's nap, the three of us headed back to Dublin. We were really sad that Alexa and Natalie were both under the weather this weekend! Hopefully, everyone will be in perfect health in September at Maureen and Dan's wedding!!!

Well, today Alexa and I leave for our Perry-cation!!! Get it? A vacation, a stay-cation, a Perry-cation :-) I came up with that clever name yesterday, lol. I'm almost all packed up, just waiting for the munchkin to get up (she's still sleeping now at 7:36 am), eat, and we'll head out. I am going to miss Dan soooooooo much - I've already teared up a few times just thinking about it!!! We're hoping that maybe he'll be able to join us on Thursday! That's all I've got for now. If you are in Lake County and wanna see us this week, call my cell or my parents' house. Ciao!