Picnic Fail... but it was fun anyway

Yesterday we called a service to have our yard sprayed for weeds (because they get so bad in our area). They said it would be 2 weeks... and then the guy shows up at 9:30 this morning. The spray is animal and kid safe once it dries, but I still don't like the kids to play in it for a couple days after the spray because Ryan still puts things in his mouth that he shouldn't.

The kids had been playing outside for a while and didn't like it when I picked up all their outside toys and made them come inside. So I figured we better go have lunch at a park so they could run off some of that 2 year old energy.

We go to the park on Fridays at lunch time a lot, and I usually just hit the Wendy's drive thru and put some chicken nuggets and fries in their cup holders to eat while we drive to the park. Then when we get there they play while I eat my lunch and feed Kellyn hers.

But since we ate at McDonald's yesterday, I didn't want to do yucky fast food again. So I took a container with ham, turkey, and chunks of cheddar cheese, and another container with strawberries and bananas slices.

It was the perfect spring day weather for the outing. Warm and sunny with a nice soft breeze blowing through the trees.

The kids immediately went to the swings, and I put Kellyn on a big blanket with some toys in the shade of a large tree nearby. A school group had left just as we pulled up, and we were the only ones at the park. I pushed them on the swings for a while, and then went to feed Kellyn her bottle while they played on the slides.

The picnic part didn't work out so well. Ryan only wanted to eat the cheerios that are Kellyn's little finger food snack. Then at one point while I was looking over at Kellyn, ALyna tried to step over the container of meat to reach for a strawberry, and she tipped all the meat onto the blanket. When I had laid the blanket out I realized that it had dog hair all over it, and then our meat did too. The kids all kept fussing because the bugs were buzzing around their heads if they stayed still for too long.

Then some friends showed up. I had put out on Facebook right before we left that we were going to the Harry McAdams state park, but I didn't really expect anyone else to meet us there on such short notice. I've met Kelly and son George through the MOPS program and also the Friday park playdates. George is just a couple months younger than the twins, and they seem to get along really well. Ryan always comes home from MOPS talking about playing with him.

So the kids played for a while, and then we all walked over to the pond to throw some bread to the ducks. We did that until the kids started wandering too far away from us and then we headed back to the playground.

Alyna and Ryan were exhausted and cranky by the time we got home which was right at their normal nap time. After quick potty stops they both climbed in bed. Kellyn had fallen asleep in her car seat, so I just brought the carrier inside the house and put it in her room. She woke up just a few minutes ago and I moved her to her bed.

I sit here under the cool breeze of a ceiling fan, looking out the big window at the red flowers, pink roses, and green trees. I can faintly hear sound from the lullabies playing in the kids room, and I feel supremely blessed by God.