This weekend our family attended two picnics. Well, one playdate and one picnic, even though the first was billed as a picnic.
The first one was for our daycare, who had everyone meet up at a local park to play. We didn’t really interact with anyone other than our own kids, although I did hi/bye a few adults along the way. But pretty much it was just a fun time for the kids to play at the playground for an hour or so. Then we hopped in the car and drove an hour south into the middle of nowhere (read: We passed through Kershaw County which is where that kidnapped 14-year-old was held in an underground bunker but saved herself by text messaging her mother using the kidnapper’s phone). We turned into the driveway (read: gravel path) and proceeded up a mountain for about a mile before it opened up into this huge open area on which a house sat.
The whole event was a lot of fun – it was the wildest corporate picnic I’ve ever attended. It was on the new farm of one of the main partners – he has acres and acres of land and a BEAUTIFUL brand new house. Add in lovely views, his own lake, and miles and miles of trails and you’ve got one heck of an estate. While we missed the skeet-shooting, there were hay rides, ATVs, plenty of beer (Bud and Bud Light, naturally), lots of food, pool tables, a moon bounce for the kids, a dunk tank for the adults (my boss, Mr. BIL was the first one in), a balloon animal guy, a caricature artist, and kids games like tug of war, egg toss, and water balloons.
My own kids loved the hayrides in particular as well as the swings (CootieBoy loves a good swing and did NOT want to get down). CootieGirl in particular loved the moonbounce. CootieBoy didn’t like the dunk tank and when Mr. BIL went in the first time, CootieBoy was very worried, stomping his feet and saying, “No no no no no no!” while waving his hands in worry. When Mr. BIL was dunked a second time, CootieBoy had a fit and screamed bloody murder. Naturally I carried him away and appeased him with animal crackers and juice.
The one thing I didn’t do that I wanted to do was take CootieGirl on an ATV. I think she would have loved it, but everytime one became available I didn’t have enough time to go get CootieGirl – by the time I could find her the ATVs would be gone again. The next Firm family picnic isn’t for two years, so by that time I’m hoping that I can get both CootieGirl AND CootieBoy on the ATV for some four-wheelin’ fun.
We got home around 7:45 p.m. and put the kids to bed. They had a long day but loved it. CootieGirl even still had hay in her hair the next morning.
