FUN IN DOGWOOD PARK

My family has a tradition of getting together for lunch whenever we’re able to. We’ve been known to gather in fast food restaurants when the weather is cold. But on days like today, we hit Dogwood Park and have a zany good time. Sometimes, only four or five of us show up. Now that school is out, there were 16 of us out there under the blue sky and hot sun. Thank God for the nice breeze! But we could have done without those pesky carpenter bees, which seem to love those wooden picnic tables. We had to spread out to eat our lunch and everybody was all over the place, so this picture represents most of us there today ~ I didn’t get Ashley, Ethan, Neil and Knox in this shot, but I did manage to capture Sarah, Holly, Kerry, Kelly, Ann, Jane, Ken, Chris, Julia, Shelby and Elijah. Like trying to get a group shot of those bees!

Julia and Knox making sidewalk chalk art ~

Knox loves his cousin Elijah, much to Elijah’s aggravation at times [well, most of the time] ~

The city finally turned on that beautiful fountain for the summer. Kelly took this awesome shot of Elijah playing under the cold waterfall. I’m sure it felt pretty good on this 85 degree day.

Knox had a great time getting wet, too! He ran  in circles around the fountain.

When we were at the park, somebody said, “D.Q.!” Who could resist that?!

Kelly took this great panoramic shot with her iPhone.

See anything different [and kind of weird] about this panoramic shot? Shelby decided she wanted to be in the shot twice, so after Kelly’s camera swept past her, she crawled under the table and popped up on the other side in time to be in the picture again. Pretty cool. Our lunch bunch had a lot of fun hanging out together this afternoon. We always do! Let’s do it all over again soon!

SNOW DAY!

This is what happens when you put off going to Wal-Mart for groceries and stuff for too long. When I went into the store about 9:30 this morning, there were a few little flakes flying around. An hour later, it had turned into a blizzard. The temperature had dropped and the wind was howling.

My car was buried. The snow was blowing sideways. I couldn’t get the trunk loaded fast enough.

This snow reminded me of the snows we used to have here in middle Tennessee way back when. It was wet and heavy and clung to everything.

I think this snow caught everyone by surprise. It was in the forecast, but it came in so fast and heavy that by the time school let out at 11:15, things were pretty messy. Grandson Elijah was thrilled to be out and couldn’t wait to make a snowball.

My snow-covered back yard

For a while the snow came down so hard it was a total white out. I love the way it clings to the branches. So pretty.

We would have had more of an accumulation if the wind hadn’t been so fierce.

I’ve been craving brownies lately and picked up a mix at the store. Made chili for lunch and then made brownies. Oh yum!

I offered Grandson Knox a lick off the spatula. He tasted it and turned around and started to walk away, but then he came back for more. After going back and forth tasting it, he finally took the spatula for himself.

His mom took this picture of his chocolate mustache and tiny beard after he was done.

Granddaughter Shelby amused herself with her iPhone while they all watched episodes of Spongebob.

Daughter Kelly ventured out into the snow to run an errand and took this selfie while trying to stay warm.

Kelly took this panoramic shot of my back porch and deck with her iPhone.

Elijah read a book to Knox who found that very funny.

Late this afternoon, we bundled up and went outside into the snow for as long as we could stand the cold. Thanks for the pic, Kelly.



Looks like our neck of the woods will be in the freezer for the next few days. The kids are out of school tomorrow. I’m guessing they’ll be out the rest of this week.

Kelly’s panoramic shot of my front porch

We ended our snow day with comfort food for supper ~ hubby Neil’s blueberry waffles and lots of crispy bacon. It's all good! Hope you are comfy and warm where you are.