4th of July

We have had a very nice extended 4th of July weekend. Dave took Thursday as a vacation day, originally to go to Six Flags with Julie, but their plans changed. So, we took a family day trip to Geneva, IL.... very cute little community... and it was nice to do something different.
Friday we went up to Gurnee, IL to play canasta with Dave's cousins up there. Dave's Mom, sister, and brother-in-law were later leaving than planned because Buddy (the dog injured in February) had an emergency trip to the vet for a fever. Dave, Emma, and I left on time, but ran into horrible traffic, so we were much later getting up there than we intended. We had a lot of fun, but our late arrivals meant a later night getting home. Miss Emma was a real trooper and did great all day. She ran around and played, but was also willing to hang out in the pack 'n play while we played cards. She crashed on the car ride home and slept through being put to bed.
Susie (our dog) ended up spending Friday night at Dave's parent's. She had been there with Dave's Dad, our nephews, and the other dogs just in case we were later getting home. We were a little worried that stopping to get her would wake Emma up, so Susie stayed where she was. Poor Emma knew right away when she woke up Saturday morning that something was wrong. She kept looking for "doggy" and was upset when she couldn't find her.
We celebrated the 4th over at Dave's parents and had a really nice day, even with all of the rain... Emma was very excited to get there and not only see Susie, but the two big doggies too. She had a blast playing with big cousins Jack and Kyle! She was having so much fun, that she only took one 45 minute nap while we were there. I think there was just too much going on for her to want to rest. The rain finally stopped late afternoon and we were able to go watch fireworks. I was a little worried that Emma would be afraid, but she hardly even seemed interested.
The only downside of our wonderful weekend was the strange noise the car started making on Friday as we went up to Gurnee. Emma is going to get quality time with Jack, Kyle, and Aunt Julie tomorrow while I go see the Hyundai dealer to try and find the problem. We are headed to Michigan next weekend, so we want to get whatever issue there is corrected before we go.