Picnicing

Well it has been a gorgeous autumn weekend here in Arizona. 102 degrees to be exact. Yes. That would be a record. (um, excuse me, where do I file a formal complaint with the weather police?)

And really, what better way to celebrate such fantastic weather than to picnic! Twice!

The first one was an Alumni picnic for Don's Master's of Real Estate Program.

I neglected to take any pictures of the actual picnic. I was too hot to think about anything other than being really hot.

I did have a delicious hamburger and 2 gallons of water though.
I believe Chloe drank about 6 Capri Suns, and ingested a tootsie roll pop and a chocolate chip cookie. Oh and some Doritos.

Little Chloe gave the playground her best shot. I think this is the thing I love about little kids the most. They don't let inclements in weather get in the way of their fun. They've got playing to do.

She gave those plastic cars sitting in a pile of sand with no shade for miles, an honest try.
She rode that flaming slide.
I watched from the ramada. 100 feet away.

The heat eventually took its toll on Chloe. She took her dress off and walked around white trash style. At one point we found her underneath a picnic table sitting in a puddle of water. At this point we figured heat stroke was setting in and we better take her home.

All in all we had a fabulous time. We really enjoy everyone who was and is in the program. Just a fun group of people.

We returned to the park a few hours later to retrieve Chloe's bike and helmet. We realized we forgot it as we were getting ready to go to the next picnic. (the typical D&M Mortensen family thing to do) Luckily it was still there! Hooray!

Then we headed over to our other picnic. Our church chili cook off. Which we were super stoked about. I mean, can you think of anything you would rather do on a hot day besides eat spicy chili and cornbread?! Me neither!

Luckily by the time we got there it was quite pleasant. It was by a lake. We tried to feed the ducks but they were not interested. Which was odd. I have never seen a group of ducks turn down a crumb. "No bread for you!!!"


So we had a good time. Even though I spent the majority of the time at the playground. But it was cool because I talked to a nice person. And one nice person is just as great as talking to 30 nice people.

I am considering sending this picture in for the Gap Child Modeling contest.

Well we enjoyed the summer picnics. And now please Mr. Weather Man. Send us some Fall.