Party in the Park

I haven't written about our young adult group in a while.  We love the folks that come to our house on Tuesday night.  We finished up our study a couple of weeks ago and last week, we did a stand alone lesson on Road Rage/Aggressive Driving.  We had some great discussion about our faith and our reactions on the road.  I LOVE hearing the opinions from these young adults.  They are smart and funny and insightful!

So last night, we had a cook out in the park that is directly in front of our house.  We have a tiny yard (not as much maintenance for Mark) but we have this lovely green space literally outside our front door.  Someone is always having a party in the park/pavilion and last night, it was all of us!  

The young adults teased me because I purchased fun balloons and colored table cloths (but I think they secretly like it!).  One of the guys said he thought it was a birthday party when he drove up.

Did you know that the Dollar Tree has mylar balloons for a dollar??  I buy them all the time.  One of the best deals around.  You can buy an entire balloon bouquet for a friend's birthday, retirement, etc. for less than $10!!

A couple of Christmases ago, we purchased a corn hole set for our son.  I love the trading sites on facebook and this guy advertised custom corn hole sets and it turns out that his brother and sister-in-law live only a mile or so from our house.  I'm going to be honest - I think it is one of the nicest sets around.  (if you are local and need a corn hole set, his name is Tyler Langston and he is on both Hoover Trading and I think Homewood Trading)

Mark really enjoyed playing last night.  I got some good shots of him.  I don't have time to play with my camera very often and I put the big lens on and snapped away.  I love digital and I'm so happy someone invented it!  I can take 1,000 pictures if I want!!

I got Mark's whole throw - beginning to end.  I must admit that Mark is pretty good at tossing those bean bags!

Wesley enjoyed playing corn hole, too.

The park has the nicest pavilion.  There are three ceiling fans, a log burning fireplace, lights, four picnic tables and two charcoal grills.  This was the first time we have used it and we learned a few things --

1. We could only cook 12 burgers on the two charcoal grills - we needed to cook 28 burgers.  Thank goodness we live across the street.  Mark cooked 16 burgers on our gas grill in our yard, while I manned the charcoal grills.  My burgers were hockey pucks (they tasted good anyway).  I'm always afraid they will be raw and someone will get sick!
2. We made a lot of trips back and forth between the house and the park.  Mark actually loaded the cooler with water bottles; the croquet set; the corn hole boards and my chair in his truck and drove them over.  The young adults were great to walk over and bring the cold food (potato salad); dips, etc. and then several of the girls took a load back to the house afterwards.  That was a huge help.
3. It is a really fun place to have a party
4. We need to do this more often - with friends, family, young adults, etc. 
5. We were very tired and sweaty afterwards - that means a good gathering, right?

We have a group of friends who bake/make desserts for the group.  Debbie was in charge of dessert this week and I asked her to provide Popsicle.  Perfect dessert for a HOT day!  (we have had such pleasant weather lately . . .it was HOT yesterday!!)

Katherine enjoying her Popsicle

Kelly (below) just graduated from seminary last week.  We are so proud of her!!

Bryan

April

Will, Kimberly, Olivia

Brittany (pictured below) brought a game for us to play.  Everyone had to write down three things that others might not know about them.  Brittany (and some helpers) read the three things and everyone had to guess who.  I stumped them!  

My facts were:

1.  I have really dark brown hair (naturally)
2.  (I can't remember the other two!!)
We learned some interesting things about each other (I must say that if I can't remember my own, I'm worried that I might not remember anyone else's . . .Wiley lived on a boat for two months; Brittany was born blind; Christy wants to move to the beach; I do remember a few -- just not my own!!)

Claire, Lauren, Lacey

Sean brought his puppy -- his name is Mowgli and he is so cute.  He liked barking at the other dogs in the park.

After dinner, most of the boys played in the park . . .and most of the girls stayed under the pavilion.  I'm going to call these pictures "action shots" . . .I guess in reality, they are just not properly focused, but don't you think "action shots" sounds more impressive??

Wiley

We stayed until it was dark and the mosquitoes were starting to bite.  We love these young adults and we give thanks to God that he allows us to spend time with them every week!