Inching Heavenward: Cookout At The Park!

Aly and JoyAnna waiting for their ride...Pelican's waiting for their meal.

Erma and Erpa (Josh's parents) invited us
to the park for a cookout last Saturday.

Josh and James went early so they could go fishing on Erpa's boat before the girls came along with the grub.

Aly and Kynlee were even there!

When we got there, Erma took Kynlee and Lydia to the park while the older kids went out for a boat ride with Erpa, Josh and me.

Brown Pelican

Anhinga drying it's wings.

We saw lots of birds!
There were mockingbirds, american crows, loggerhead shrikes, blue jays, seagulls, pelicans, anhingas, and what we think might have been terns?

James and I think this is some kind of tern...Do you know what it is?

JoyAnna and Alyson with James at the helm!

Joy and Lydia swinging.

We had so much fun playing together at the park! They had this great pirate ship themed playground. We were surprised at how empty the park was for a Saturday afternoon. It was a nice, overcast afternoon so it wasn't too warm.


James climbing the rock wall.

Of course, Josh was encouraging everyone to climb the rock wall. James doesn't need too much encouragement. It's one of his favorite things to do! I think Josh is secretly hoping that I will let him take up rock climbing if he can get the kids into it too. Crazy man!

Ahoy, Lydia!

Lydia was having so much fun climbing all over this thing! It is so bittersweet to see how quickly she is growing! Almost 18 months old already...where does the time go?!

Underneath the pirate ship there was a Scavenger Hunt game. Josh took the kids over while Erpa was cooking to find all of the symbols. There were two that they could not find...not even Josh! Finally, James found one and then Josh found the other. It was quite challenging and kept them busy for awhile.

We were able to use the grill at the pavilion nearby for dinner. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, I brought a homemade potato salad (Granny's famous recipe, of course!), there were some unnaturally large and super sweet strawberries as well as chips, pretzels and squished cupcakes. The cupcakes, though squished, were quite delicious! Really, everything was delicious.

Kynlee and Alyson resting before dinner.

The "babies" snacking on hotdog buns.

After dinner, we all cleaned up and Erpa left to wash the boat. The rest of us took a walk to the fishing pier. A little boy caught a little snapper while we were there. Fun!! And Daddy accidentally dropped James' sunglasses into the water. He wanted to go in and get them, but Erma and I asked him not to. Apparently, red sunglasses will attract large fish.