Ruthie, our second-born daughter, (left) called on Sunday and wanted to know if she and her family could go to the cabin for a Memorial Day outing! I'm always glad when the kids enjoy the place and welcomed her to be there - although I had plans to be there working on water leaks and finalizing plumbing installation. As it turned out the plumber called and said that "since it's predicted to rain" he would like to wait until we have a dry day to complete our work because the ground under the house gets wet when it rains. Of course I could do nothing but agree.
It was just the right kind of day for an outing to the cabin. Well, it might have been even more fun if there had not been as much rain, but we had both cabin porches when the rain fell. :D I went up early and opened the doors and windows, lit some candles, did some minor straightening up of things and sat down to wait for the children. We had two or three rain showers but nothing that kept us from doing what we wanted to do.
Son-in-law Curtis Crocket set up a grill on the back porch to burn the dogs and burgers. Ruthie brought lettuce, tomatoes, mayo, mustard, pickles, relish, cole-slaw, chips and dips and drinks. Her two daughters (Lydia, aged 25, and Chloe, aged 5) were there. Lydia's two year old son (Julian, aged 2) was there. Frankie's daughter, Kimberly (aged 27) was there with her daughter, Hailey (aged 3). Kimberly brought two of her friends, Josh and Shay.
It was thrilling to watch the children's reaction when I started throwing pieces of a bun into a stump hole in the creek and they could see the small fish churn the water to eat. Then someone started teaching Julian how to skip rocks on the water. There are plenty of flat rocks available. Hailey and Chloe led the charge in wading the creek. Lydia was right there in the middle of it because she got soaked. Chloe climbed up the roots of the tree right in front of the cabin porch! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Roscoe (Curtis' dog) also had a blast chasing the rocks the children were throwing. Curtis says the dog has broke a tooth catching rocks that way!!!
I was also able to show Chloe what a dragon-fly is. They look very menacing with all four wings and long body which looks somewhat like a stinger - but they are totally harmless. In fact they eat mosquitos.
Grandmother Frances had sent a coloring book, a toy car and a "ring toss" game for the little ones just in case it rained. She didn't want them to be bored. Needles to say, none of the man-made toys were used.
Thank you Ruthie and Curtis for all the hard work you did to make everyone's stay at the cabin pleasant. I believe all had a grand time - including ME! Thank you too, Ruthie, for helping with the clean-up. You are such a sweetie!!!
