Today our church had a church picnic.  Now, I have to admit, I’m not really one for having church outdoors–not my thing.  I do my worshipping best in a church.  Also, trying to get four small children to behave for church outside, especially when we would not have had actual chairs to use for containment, is no small task. So I was not too excited about this event.

Thanks to what was apparently still Tropical Depression Ike when it got to us (never before have I experienced wind like that!  I know for certain that I never want to experience an actual hurricane, and I’m certainly never going to live by the Gulf Coast!), we did end up having church indoors, which was far more comfortable for me, although I do feel bad for all of the people at our church who were looking forward to the annual outdoor service.  The drive to church was certainly interesting, what with some hydroplaning and seeing a car stranded in a ditch submerged in quite a bit of water, and had the winds not calmed some before we left, we might not have braved it, but I’m glad we did!

The “picnic” (if you can still call it that when it was inside) afterwards was so much fun!  I’m so glad we stayed for it.  We really shouldn’t have–because we weren’t sure if we were going to go at all and/or stay after the service, I had no side dish to pass.  I’m still feeling bad about that, especially since our family of six can eat a lot (and especially since Ladybug’s teeth have finally arrived, and she has discovered the joy of eating real food!).  But, here’s the thing–also thanks to Tropical Depression Ike, we had no power when we left for church, and as best as we can figure, it didn’t come back on until after lunch time, so we really didn’t have a way to eat at home.  So, we threw guilt aside, and stayed for lunch. 

The children got to play fun games, and won entirely too many prizes.  Seriously, it’s like Christmas around here with all the stuff they got.  Even Moose got to participate in the sucker pull, and between that and some trading with Turkey and Bunny, he got a small soccer ball, and echo microphone and some M&Ms, all of which he is ecstatic about, and does not want to part with (except for the M&Ms, which he of course promptly ate!).  Turkey and Bunny have no end to new stuff–both a football and a soccer ball, beach balls, pens, bubbles, puzzles, candy, other stuff I’m sure I’m missing.  And Turkey won a prize at the cake walk (actually, Bunny won once, too, but it was one treat per family, and she won second), and much to my delight, picked a beautiful tray of cupcakes, which I’m not too proud to admit I was hoping he’d choose (yum!).  

Oh, and did I mention the food?  There’s nothing like a bunch of Lutheran ladies for providing you with a great meal!  Not to mention their faithful husbands, manning the grills, even in questionable weather.  We discovered that Turkey likes brats, which he had never been interested in before, Bunny likes grilled chicken, deviled eggs are enough like egg salad that children find them delicious, and, of course, desserts are awesome.  It was such a fun afternoon (I only wish we could have stayed for the Bible bingo, but the younger two were very tired and really ready to go), and I can’t think of any group of people I’d rather spend time with than our church family.  Every one of us, from my Mister, right on down to little Ladybug, has people to talk to and spend time with–does it get any better than that?