Outdoor Living has begun!

The Days of the Outdoors have now officially begun! We hosted our first picnic last night, signaling the commencement of outdoor living. The funny thing is that it developed as a completely spontaneous event -- something that I, the Big Planner of All Things, rarely do. It was an absolutely gorgeous day -- sunny but not oppressively warm, a cool breeze ... just perfect. My oldest brother, Steve, invited us to attend a carnival in his town, so that was our event for the afternoon, after naptime. We spent the morning outdoors -- Don on grill duty (cleaning, repairing, replacing parts) while I watered some newly planted flowers and hosed down the picnic table and chairs. I guess that inspired me, and when I said to Don, "Hey, let's have a picnic!" he heartily agreed.

It started with a trip upstairs to my parents' house, asking them if they wanted to join us. Then Don suggested we call my youngest brother, Jim, who had been working all day on building a new garage and would probably love some relaxation and a free meal. Then a call went out to Steve, saying it would just make sense to finish off the carnival fun with a picnic at our house. So within minutes this spontaneous event turned into a bash for 12!

Then the flurry began. I made up a grocery list (since we weren't prepared for this in the food department), and during the kids' naps Don ran to a record store (folks, his latest obsession is VINYL!!!), then to Trader Joe's for some coffee, and finally on to Shop Rite for the feast ingredients. My mom -- ever the wonderful hostess -- wanted to pitch in, so she provided the baked beans, apple pie, and homemade cookies, while we handled the rest. With this grand event looming before me now, I asked Don to take the kids to the carnival sans spouse -- I was actually happy to spend those few hours, alone, at home cleaning up and getting thing ready. (Personal time is so precious I don't even mind solitude if it means working!). I have to pat my back here and say that I was pretty proud of myself, pulling this off without a stitch of planning -- quite a diversion from my natural inclination. Yahoo!

We had so much fun. Of course, there were the always-anticipated accidents: Grace toppled backwards off of a plastic picnic chair (unscathed and quickly scooped up by her Uncle Jim); cousin Michael got his head stuck in a large cardboard box just as Aidan started pushing it down a very slight incline, resulting in a mean burn on the side of his neck; Michael later got into a tricycle accident, scraping his ankle on the sidewalk. But the highlights were priceless -- just seeing the cousins playing together (5 under the age of 9) was adorable; hanging out and talking casually was relaxing; but the best part of all was a concert staged by Uncle Steve. My brother is a modern-day Piped Piper -- he gathered all the kids in the living room, first for a history lesson in rock-n-roll, followed by a major jam session to Van Halen, with all the kiddies (including Steve) playing on every plastic instrument we had in the house. The rest of us adults in the yard could hear Steve singing/screaming in his cigarette-gravelly voice, and occasionally a squeaky younger voice would chime in. It was awesome.

School of Rock is now in session

Sometimes there's really nothing better than to see a 43 year old man act his shoe size.

Fond, fond memories were made. And besides the above scenario, we walked away with two fabulous quotes from Aidan:
- Little cousin Steven Henry (aged 3) followed Aidan into the bathroom and remained in there until the deed was done. Aidan loudly exclaimed to his ever-adoring cousin, "Look, little Steven! Look at that rocket poop!"
- At times throughout the Van Halen jam session, one of the children would occasionally wander out, show us some newly-learned skill on an instrument, and then return back in. Michael (aged 5) did a good David Lee Roth jump with a plastic guitar, while Grace came out with a recorder (an odd choice, considering the genre, but it worked for her). Aidan then came out, sans instrument, rather relishing the role of orator for the evening as he excitedly proclaimed to us all, "Hey! Everyone! We're listening to Aunt Helen!"

I wonder what other fantastic memories will be made in the coming Outdoor Months ... We're off to a grand start!