Summer Picnic Party

 We love Blake's work picnic. It's become a fun summer tradition for our family. This year was different in that we actually stayed for the entire time and pretty much let the kids have free reign of the carnival. It was easy to keep an eye on the kids from one spot and they didn't require really any assistance from us like they have in previous years. What a weird and freeing feeling to just let the kids go and have fun while I sat and chatted with a friend. Blake was able to participate in a horseshoe tournament.

 Brooke got pink paw prints painted on her arm.

 I had a freak out moment when I thought I lost Grant's binky in the grass. I looked all over for it and was thinking we'd have to go home because Grant was starting to get grumpy, when I found out that Blake had the binky in his pocket the whole time!

 Porter got a car painted on his hand.

 Best quote of the day: After eating his cotton candy, Porter's face was all sticky. He tried to use his tongue to lick off the stickiness, but it wasn't helping. Porter walks over to me, sticks his face close to mine and says, "Here mom. Lick my face." I politely declined and used a wet wipe instead.

 Porter was in heaven when we went to look at the heavy equipment. He could not wait to get up in the driver's seat.

 I love our family pictures by the big tire. This is our third one and it's fun to see how our family has changed.

 Right after this, it started to rain. Blake had gone back to his horseshoe tournament and wasn't around. I gathered the kids and we took shelter in the bucket of the bulldozer (see above picture). Right as I was pondering if that was very smart (since it's made of metal), it started to hail and the wind picked up. We were getting soaked and the hail hurt! I didn't know what to do. Try to tough it out where we were or take the kids and run across the field to the car. Blake came over and grabbed Grant from me and I carried Porter and we all ran to the car, getting soaked and blinded by rain and hail on the way. The kids were all screaming and as soon as we closed the car doors, Blake and I just looked at each and started laughing. What a memorable way to end an afternoon!