Sunday BBQ

Yesterday in the afternoon we went to Pat and Nikki's place in the Fort. It was a blast for us and for the kids. They are our running friends. They both found love at the local Running Room. They actually got married February 24th last year on Claire's birthday. Nikki makes me laugh because everytime I see her at running she asks me how my "100 kids" are! I tell her, I only have 5! lol. She says I should have 100 kids.

They have this great backyard and and awesome sprawling rancher on 1/2 acre. They have a great playset out in the back 40, and a big dirt pile that the kids had a blast on. They were making "dirt couches!" so much fun. They had a climbing structure and a tire swing. And, oh yeah. A full sized volleyball court! The dirt pile was from the area of where the court is.

Everybody brought a side dish, and they supplied the burgers etc. The kids had fun with the other kids and they were all dirty and dusty! They also had this awesome grape arbour with wine grapes that grew over like a bit tent...it would have been perfect for a chaise lounge our two, and some quiet music...it was the perfect little get away. So fun for the kids.

We stayed until dusk. Caroline was loved up by Nikki's Mom and the other running friends. She wasn't put down for the whole night, and of course Catie kept everybody entertained! She had so much fun in the yard. I certainly think this was one of the best days of summer!

It was fun to watch the reactions of the 7 C's walking into the party. We got lots of looks and questions etc. But, I had a great time laughing about it all. There was this one guy Chris, who was asking lots of questions about our family. lol. He asked questions like, so all of your kids are C names, why? Are you having any more kids? To that question I answered no. They said we should keep going! lol.

He asked me to spout off the names of our family just like a server would read back a menu...as fast as I could. Cliff, Cathy, Cameron, Claire, Carly, Catie and Caroline. Then, he asked if I ever mix up the names when calling for somebody, and I said yes. I stutter with CCCUUU CCCUUU CCUUUU. lol. He also then noted that we all have "Hard C" names. He was a lot of fun. We also were asked if we go out for dinner a lot. To which I replied "not very often!"

They were also surprized that they were all 7 years and younger. One of the Mom's there also said she feels bad complaining about 1 child lol. I said, I remember what it was like to have one child and I felt that was very challenging! I couldn't get anything accomplished. And after two I felt that was VERY challenging too, but after the 3rd it was OK!

I also sat and chatted with another guy. They had a cute little guy Jackson. He was 18 months. This guy was the youngest of 5 kids. He said he LOVED watching our family of 7 and remembering back to all of the good times he had with his siblings. He said that he wished they would have started their family earlier as they were too old to have another child. If they would have known how awesome having a child was, they would have started earlier and had 4 kids. So, at that moment I felt VERY PROUD of my family and all that we have accomplished.

Our kids were helpful, caring, thoughtful and well behaved yesterday. It was a wonderful day.

Thanks to Pat and Nikki and family for the lovely bbq.