Labor Day picnic

A good chunk of all our weekends have been dedicated to furniture rearranging, furniture procurement, picture/shelf hanging and general organization. We are certainly in the final stages of creating our familiar "nest" environment within these new walls. The kids are getting very bored with this type of weekend activity so Dad promised everyone a drive to a park for a picnic. It was to give us a chance to stretch our legs and to get familiar with our surroundings. So, on Monday we headed to a large national park with a big canvas bag that contained a lovely lunch. The drive was nice, although we were going against some heavy end-of-the-long-weekend traffic. After about an hour and a quarter we pulled off to a picnic area. All of the covered table areas were taken so we decided to "tailgate" and then do a little hiking. I arranged the red and white checked blanket and then opened up all the treats. While doing all of this I kept looking over my shoulder at some dark clouds that every passing moment seemed to loom closer to our sunny respite. There was some debate as to the exact direction the clouds were going, but frequent forks of lightening indicated that it was coming our way. We did some quick adjusting of the car seats and enlarged the back of the Suburban to accommodate all of us and then we sat in the cramped quarters to "picnic". I didn't feel sorry for myself though, all those outdoor bar-b-quers and picnickers were undergoing a full assault when the clouds seemed to make there way to us in double-time.
We did see an interesting side to Will too. When everyone began eating in the few peaceful moments of our picnic, Will refused to eat anything. I have seen him do this before. Will needs to be seated at a table with proper utensils before he feels comfortable enough to dig in. Finger food-on-your-lap stuff is a no-go for Will. I can't complain about a little guy who so stubbornly hangs onto his refined eating habits, but it puts a dent in his dining pleasure when the only things on the menu are of the finger-licking-good variety. There is going to be no convenient drive-through lunches or dinners for Will apparently and any mom will know just how much of a pain that may be.
As for our lunch yesterday, the rain did not seem to want to let up. Any intentions of a hike were abandoned and we packed up the truck and headed for home, where it was sunny and warm. Real bar-b-que weather. Although we did bring the camera along with us thinking we might get a nice family picture for the Christmas card, any picnicking pictures in the back of that truck would have featured a close-up of someone's kneecap or earlobe. Maybe next year.