Our fun afternoon with cousins

Today we spent the day up with Mel and her youngest 4 kids. We went to a nearby park that her 3 year old calls "Spiderman Park" bacause of all the rope play equiptment. The weather was sort of chilly and indifferent when we got there, but the kids all had a ball. The playground is surrounded by powdery fine sand, and around that is the soft, rubber playground matting that is so cushy to walk on :-) There weren't a whole lot of places that Emmy could go - he's just mastering walking so tight rope walking isn't a possibility in the least!

Owen proved that he was a pro at climbing all over it though. He got me up in the web with him because he said it was so fun; and walking in the sand barefooted was wonderful, but once I got on the ropes I was wishing for my shoes to be back on!

While the bigger kids played on the webs, the little ones were having fun, too. Johnny and Emmy swang for most of the time while baby Jared slept in the stroller. Every time I asked Johnny for a picture he would furrow his eyes and hang his head to hide, but once he was on the swing with Uncle Scottie pushing him, it was all giggles and smiles!

Emmy, on the other hand, sort of started phasing out once we put him in the swing. He was in a sleepy trance and just sort of stared out blankly! He started falling asleep in the swing, so we let him out to walk around down on the sandy beach that was next to the park. He snapped back into reality and loved playing in the sand there.

The kids had fun sitting on the docks and talking about what kind of scary creatures were lurking just beneath the surface. Abby was pretty sure there was an alligator hiding in the water somewhere.

She is such a great big sister her Johnny! She sticks with him and keeps him safe wherever he wants to go.

The weather decided it was going to turn ugly and the clouds started to seep over the tops of the mountains. It was neat to watch, but chilly to feel. I can only imagine how cold the kids must have been with their wet legs!

They played on the shoreline and waded in the water for 15 minutes or so while the cloud crept toward them from the tops of the mountains.

The boys made water volcanoes and moats and castles, while the girls splashed and skipped in the water.

Garrett was in heaven being elbow high in the cold sandy water!

And right before the clouds finally reached us and opened up to pour its rain and sleet, Owen gave me a fun photo run of his many faces!

Daddy was off of classes, the kids did their school in the van on the way up, and we had no where to be for a few hours. It was a fun way to spend our afternoon.