The Yard Picnic

We knew ahead of time that we were in for a perfectly beautiful Saturday.  After Thursday morning's tornado scares, leaving us hunkered down in our basement watching the blip of the radar move across the tv screen (showing the unsettled weather passing a mere mile to our west), we felt that we deserved a beautiful day or two.  Really. 

So I asked the young, blond-haired, blue-eyed decision-maker of the family what she thought of having a picnic on Saturday.  Like I didn't already know the answer...  Steve had already committed to yardwork, making an early-morning run to Home Depot for mulch, flowers, and the oh-so-necessary ant and termite termination spray.  I know what he's like - he'll skip anything resembling breakfast and get so engrossed in his job at hand that he forgets to eat all day.  I knew that a lunchtime picnic would benefit us all.  Sammi helped me plan the menu (uh...the predictable peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, of course, supplemented by ham and cheese, veggie straws, broccoli salad and the likely-to-be-left-uneaten-by-the-anti-vegetable-princess carrot and celery sticks) and at 1pm we trooped out to the brightest spot in the front yard to pitch our blanket and soak in the fresh air and sunshine.

Samantha is wearing one of Steve's mother's beautiful creations, sent last week from England.

Sliced strawberries and grapes in honey and lemon juice.  I've got to have the weirdest kid on the planet, who won't. eat. strawberries.  I'm assuming it's because they're pretty hit-or-miss in the sweetness department, depending on the time of year and the crop location.  I guess she's been burned too many times with the sour ones that she figures it's better just to not to chance it.  Grapes, on the other hand, are not an issue.

But my, oh my, don't they look delicious??

See that building in the background?  That's the school Sammi will be attending starting next fall.  I seriously don't think it could be any more convenient.  :-)