my favorite picnic of the year

Around this time of year we always go to the Flint Hills with Joel’s family for a picnic. It is my favorite picnic of the year.

I was talking to a friend today and she said that she has never been to a picnic with such good food. My mother-in-law always makes fried chicken. It is soooo good! My friend is right…it is the best picnic food ever. Fried chicken in one hand and watermelon in the other.

The kids always eat really fast because they can’t wait to start playing in the creek. Levi couldn’t even wait for us to get everything out for lunch…he was in the creek before we even started eating.

All the cousins bring their rubber boots. Some little boys even have to wear pink ones. 😉  Next year I should try to line them all up in their boots for a picture. I’ll have to try to remember that.

Hadden is the only new cousin this year. Such a cutie!

Griffin loves rocks. He would stand and throw rocks in the water all day if he could.

He was trying really hard to keep up with his brother. He’s still a little wobbly!

The oldest cousins are starting to venture off further and further.

They are always on some kind of adventure. Catching tadpoles was one of them.

Levi and Griffin didn’t want to be left out so they followed behind too.

I’m pretty sure the adults have as much fun exploring as the kids do.

They couldn’t catch any fish but found several tadpoles and a crawdad.

While we were splashing in the water I looked over my shoulder and saw these cows that were getting closer and closer.

Griffin and I went to check them out because cows are his favorite. He just stood there and said “moooo-moooo”. He is a man of few words…luckily moo is one of them. 🙂  I think he scared them off.

There was lots of swimming. Who needs swimming suits?! Jumping in with your clothes on is much more fun.

Leo loved the water. He was so funny. He ate his watermelon, splashed it in the water, ate some more, and was grinning and laughing the whole time. Happy boy!

Those are Levi’s muscles…in case you were wanting to see them. 🙂

Griffin wasn’t a fan of swimming (again!) so we did lots of walking…

…and more walking.

And we threw some more rocks in the water too.

After all that we managed to get all the kids cleaned up for the annual cousin picture by the tree. That was an amazing feat considering how dirty they all were.

After a few silly faces and a runaway (it was Griffin every time!)…

…we bribed the runaway baby with a cookie and got our picture. It was such a fun day and we got out of there just before the storms came through. Phew. I can’t wait to go back next year.

You can check out a few of our past Flint Hills picnics here:

2012 + 2011