Subs, Frolics, and FreakOuts.

Last Monday, for Family Night, we took the kids to the lake for a picnic.

Bradley insisted on pushing Bryce in his little "park"stroller. Even though it is our small umbrella-like stroller, he still strained to be able to see over the top.

He wouldn't even allow me to help as he struggled to push him up the steep hill.

What was on the menu? Subway, of course!
Even Bryce partook.

I caught Tommy T in the middle of a chew...and he's still a beauty.

I adore these man cubs.

Bryce pondered some of life's deeper issues as Karah and Bradley ran and played. He also experienced his first mouthful of sand.....which he decided was WAY overrated.

Bradley never slowed down. Never.

And as usual, Karah was happy to stop for the camera. What a beauty.

I caught Karah giving the Ho-hee a booty slap...trying to get him to speed up. (Yes, Mom, he is barefoot - I know, I know - there is a hypodermic needle in the sand ready to stab him - or maybe the bad guys even laced the sand with broken glass.....but he wouldn't listen!)

Bradley did the frantic, ADD ride. You know the one....where the kid goes so fast that the springs bend and the snout of the horse touches the ground. Do horses have snouts, muzzles,beaks, or is it just called a nose? I TOLD YOU I'm animal remedial.

Bryce was not distracted by any of this. He continued to ponder Plato, Socrates, and Voltaire. He had not time for this nonsense.

There were sand angels.....
And cartwheels.....

And sweating and climbing.....

And beauty......until......

The ducks came.

I brought three loaves of bread to feed the ducks - and every fowl within a 10 mile radius showed up. Later that night, I was informed that you AREN'T supposed to feed the ducks -that there had been an article in the paper - saying that the geese pooh was messing up the bacteria levels in the lake - hence they needed to cut down on the amount of pooh. Woops. This explained the ravenous pecking.

He was my favorite. He had a turkey gobbler on his face. He was patient and lay his beak on my lap until I got the next piece ready.... unlike the others who were pecking holes into my knees....and Bradley's.

Tom and the boys went to the car for some counseling. The maniac ducks finished the loaf off and we called it a night.

Some Family Nights don't turn out "quite" as we expected.....but at least they're memorable. And THAT is what it's ALLLLLL about.