Fourth of July Picnic on the Third: Part One

This is my dad. He's patriotic and really happy. Look at all those hot dogs! Wowzers! For the fourth of July, all of my siblings were together for the first time in... I think it was five years we decided. Everyone was there but Dale. Boo!!! WAAAHHH!!! I missed him. So my mom decided that while we were all home, we should christen the farm with a giant family picnic.

And picnic we did. My parents invited a few friends, my sister invited a few friends, and the rest was just us. It felt like a full-blown church picnic!

I have to be honest, it was a lot of work. While we were hustling around trying to get everything done, a couple of times I thought, "Wouldn't this be more simple if we just ate here and then went to the farm???" but I didn't say that out loud until after the party when I finally understood why we did all that work. It was awesome. We had SOOOOO much fun!!!

My brother, Jon, and his wife, Cara, got to Emporia earlier that week from New Mexico. This is their son, Zane. He's been voted "the funniest kid on the earth" at my house. The kids in our neighborhood can't wait to meet him.

...and Cara, Stephanie, and Alexa. I was so excited to see all of them; it's been way too long. The other members of their family, Colby and Ellie, stayed in New Mexico in a kennel.

Aside from the pond, and the giant garage, and the guesthouse, one of the perks of the farm is the covered patio that has electricity. Does it get any better than that? LOVE IT!

There was a pretty good crowd down by the pond for most of the light hours. I came down to take pictures. That was pretty much it for me. I wanted to stay close to the food.

Zane sprained his foot on their first leg of the trip. As soon as they got to my mom's, Jon took him to see a doctor. Poor dude; except for during the eating portion, he was stuck in this chair for the whole party! What a trooper, watching the kids swimming and running around. He just hopped to wherever they went. I didn't hear him complain one time. It amazed me.

HOT RODDIN', BABY! Deisha might have been quiet the whole night if I would have let her stay in this. Unfortunately for her, it belonged to another little guy and besides, there was a long line of kids waiting to take a ride in the hot rod.

My boys, doing what boys oughta' be doing. They crack me up.

No one swam in the pond until Nature Boy took the first dive. We weren't sure how deep it was or what might be lurking in there. There were some rough estimates, but David okayed it for free swimming after this dive. No leaches, just mud. That boat was left by previous owners on the land. My dad wanted the kids in life jackets if they were going to be tooling around the pond in it. After the first few trips, they figured it was about at sturdy as a barge. It wasn't going over. That's when the swimmers took over the jackets.

This game is the perfect outside-at-the-farm-at-dusk-picnic game. Once they set it up, there was a steady tournament until dark. I can't be sure but I think it's called Corn Hole. From my own assessment, you throw beanbags that must be full of corn into the hole on the platform. You can buy the set at Target for 50 bucks, but I'll never pay. If we own this game, you can bet I made it and painted big paisleys on the platforms!!

Deisha and Maren had quite a bit of catching up to do. They hadn't seen each other since they were babies, you know.
A little bit of heaven right here. Seriously... Does it get any better than this?