Surprise Picnic

Last Saturday, to celebrate Dave's last Sunday having to work, Jed and I surprised Dave with a picnic at work. We met him at Ratcliff Lake and had a yummy dinner and went on a walk. It was so nice to just enjoy the lake and spend time together.

Dave and Jed chowing down

Jed's mouth was so full that he could barely chew!

"sharing"

After we finished eating, we went on our walk. The lake has a big grassy burm across the southern end so we decided to cut across the overflow area and walk across the burm to see the trees that were struck by lightening a few weeks ago.

Of course, Petey had to come. I love how Jed holds Petey--either by both ears or his tail. Poor Petey!

Jed got tired of walking pretty quickly, but he wouldn't let one of us carry him and the other carry Petey. Whoever carried Jed also toted Petey. It was warm work.

We made it to the other side of the lake where we saw the trees struck by lightening.

Dave said a couple of weeks ago there was a crazy storm and some people were camped on the pad (on the left in the picture below). The storm kept getting worse and they kept saying "let's wait, let's wait." Finally it was just too scary so they made a run for their car and a few seconds after they got inside, lightening struck one tree and ricocheted around to a couple of others.

It's hard to tell unless you click on the picture, but the tree with the pink tape on it, the tree behind to the right of the pad and the tree next to Jed and I all have lightening scars on them.

After we marveled at the trees for a while, we went and climbed on the ruins of the sawmill that used to sit on Ratcliff Lake;

tried to take a few family shots that Jed wanted no part in;

looked at some racoon tracks in the mud;

and headed back across the burm to drive home. Jed was so proud of himself that he walked across the bridge with no help. Big boy!

It was a good day. I love those simple, little things that end up being really fun memories and I'm glad we took the time to do this for our family. It's definitely something to celebrate, not having to wrassle Jed by myself at church any more!