This summer has been unusual, abnormal or atypical, to say the least!
We are trying to keep things as normal moving along in a fun and relaxed way while at the same time taking the necessary precautions to keep things as safe and healthy as possible.
Knowing that we are heading into a period of time where Geli’s infection fighting ability is at a low (to non-existent) point, I was trying to figure out something fun that we could do to celebrate the long weekend. We need to be away from gatherings and crowds, and so that make everything a little more difficult and limits some of our regular “go to” family activities.
I figured that we could have a picnic. The kids ALWAYS want to pack a picnic, a blanket and some games and spend an afternoon together, and unknown to the children – that is what we planned.
When we woke up that morning, the weather looked yucky and worse, IT WAS FREEZING!
And so my brain went into overdrive to try to figure out how we could still do something fun, but indoors…..
We have a large shag rug that I figured would be perfect for a little indoor mini Bocce Ball Game. We had a small whiffle ball for the target and 3 pairs of hard rubber bouncy balls in blue, yellow and orange. Then I was going to set up bowling with a bunch of empty water bottles, and a tennis ball. Our hallway is the perfect spot for that. Then I figured that we could pack our lunch basket and put a blanket on the living room floor and I was even thinking of different ways to make smores either in the oven or over the bar-b-que.
I figured that even if the weather didn’t co-operate that we could still have a great and fun adventure of a day.
Fortunately……by lunch time, it was warm and the sun was trying desperately to peer through the hazy clouds. So, we packed everything up, told the kids that we were headed to Derby Reach, got in the van and headed off.
We got there and headed out onto the grassy field to lay our blankets down, and sat down and ate.
We get KFC about once a year and that’s enough to remind us that it’s SO DISGUSTING and then it takes us about a year to forget just how gross it really is and then we order it again….
Nana and Papa came down to join us and then it felt like a party and not just a picnic…
Jon sat and held Judah in the shade….
And Judah was fine for a while but very quickly decided that he didn’t really want to just sit and he informed us of that quite loudly….
Geli, Xani, Nana and myself decided to play a rousing game of rummy…
Jeremy told Papa all about his creations and inventions and tried to talk Papa into building an electric chair on a track that would go from the top of our house all the way down to the basement for Judah to ride on so that it would be easy for him to get around…..
Papa seemed quite amused by Jeremy’s ideas……
but then HONESTLY…who isn’t amused by Jer’s ideas…my sweet, SWEET boy!
Judah finally chilled out when we laid him down on the blanket….I think he liked looking up at the giant tree that we were sitting under.
We played about 10 rounds of rummy, but Xani got bored and dropped out of the game…..
Nana had a good attitude throughout the whole game even though, I whooped her’s and Geli’s butts…..
Isn’t she pretty?
We found this little guy crawling on our blanket…..cute little pink lady bug!
Papa took Jeremy and Xani for an adventure walk through the trails and Jon took Siah down to throw rocks into the water. Siah managed to get soaking wet, and then in true Siah like fashion…..he came back to where we were sitting and a HUGE mole hill sucked him directly into it’s core…
He just threw himself face first directly into a pile of dirt!
I could complain, but it kept him entertained…..
and captivated…..
for ever…..
I think that this was the best part of the whole outing as far as he was concerned. And then……oh, AND THEN..
Then he decided that he was not quite dirty enough…
Oh baby! I think he just wanted another dunk in the river….which we gladly obliged and then we packed up and went home……The End!
Actually, it was the end of that particular adventure but little did we know that it wasn’t the end of the day….there was another exciting adventure waiting for us, but I’ll save that for another post……..
It was a great day and we have some great memories of a fun and special day.
Edited to say: You can click here to see the whole set from our Derby Reach Adventure