A Summer Evening in the Park

In the past, my friend Wendy-Lou and I have organized an Annual Finance Picnic for our friends at work. Due to several changes over the past few years, both of us are now working in the Executive Division, so this year we decided to organize a picnic for our entire office and their families. We got the approval, and some generous and very much appreciated donations, from the Division Directors we work with and got to work. We chose a great location in one of the local parks and although the day was threatened by the chance of rain, it was perfect. The rain held off and it was beautiful. These are just a few of the photo's I took during our wonderful evening. We had about 55 people attend, and felt it to be a real success!

We took Amelia's hula hoops, and some comfy chairs.  Matthew had chance to relax a while before everybody came, then he became the BBQ King.

There was a great play-set for the children to play on, right next to our sheltered picnic area.  Of course, Amelia loved it and went straight to the slide.

She of course copied the older children and grabbed the rail before throwing herself down.

"I spy!"

This is my boss, Darren.  He and Amelia are very good friends!

Look at how beautiful our reserved area was, it was perfect!

And here is the view of the river, looking over from the shelter.  A great place to take Amelia fishing.

Of course, I work for the State Treasurer's office and here is my dear husband performing a ceremonial handover of State Treasurer Ted's cheeseburger.  It was pretty smoky over the BBQ pit and so my poor Matthew had a hard time keeping his eyes open for the shot!

The Treasurer and his Deputy.  Darren is the best boss and took care of grilling the hot dogs.

Here is Wendy and her two gorgeous boys, she is my right-hand girl, together we planned, organized and pulled this whole thing off.

And my girl, Carmen, with her family.  They are just beautiful, inside and out.

The hula hoops were a hit with some of the other kids that came.  These lovely girls belong to the Parkers'.

Amelia couldn't wait to see "Grandma" Judy and "Grandpa" Gordon.  She told me all day that she was going to sit with them and that's what she did.  Here she is below with them both. 

We had balloons to help people see where to go, and afterwards, the little ones took them home.  Here is my friend Jenny-O and her two little ones, along with Robert, and oh that girl looks familiar!

Parking was easy and right by the reserved area, which was really handy when packing everything up.

Another view of the fantastic park after everybody had left.

It really was a great evening and I cannot wait to do it all again next year!

Celebrating "Happily Ever After!"

Amelia attends a fabulous daycare called Kelly's Kids.  A couple of weeks ago Kelly got married and we were invited to celebrate at her reception.  The weather was beautiful for the outside celebration, which was held in the garden of a home that she and her new husband, Charles, own that is on the McKenzie River.

The table decorations were beautiful, and complimented the beauty of the surroundings.

We were treated to a wonderful catered BBQ meal, Amelia really enjoyed the chicken drumsticks.

Me and my girl.

This is the McKenzie River that Charles and Kelly stood by as they exchanged their vows.

Amelia found lots of daisies.

My beautiful girl.

A DJ played wonderful music, and when asking the guests to request special songs for the happy couple, Amelia said "I know a song they should play for Charles and Kelly", then she told me what it was "old McDonald!"  I laughed out loud at the sweetness of her request.  Believe it or not she and daddy went to ask the DJ if he had it, and of course he didn't, but instead played Beauty and the Beast which Amelia was happy about.

Daddy enjoyed a dance with his precious daughter.

The cake was simple and beautiful, and oh so delicious!  There was even a grooms cake which of course sported the Oregon Football Team's logo "Go Ducks!"

Amelia enjoyed running around with other friends from her daycare, here she is with Zeb.

Kelly's niece made the beautiful favors which contained personalized M&M candy (which just happened to be in the Oregon Duck's colors).

I actually made the wedding invitations and RSVP cards for the wedding and they turned out great, unfortunately I didn't have a photo to show you, but I was excited to be able to contribute something to such a wonderful event.

It was a truly lovely afternoon and I am so glad that we went.  Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Prince!

Flags, Fun and Fireworks

Every July 4th, Americans celebrate their independence from the British, they chose this date in particular since the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776.  Of course, I am British, and proud of it, however, America is now my home and has been for the past 13 years, my husband, daughter and half of my extended family is American, and so what else can I do but join in the celebrations, after all, "when in Rome".

There is a town near our home, that just happens to be called Independence, and they  hold a celebratory parade and firework event every July 4th.  We hadn't been to the parade before, but it was a beautiful day, and now that Amelia's a little older we decided to go.  It was so much fun, we all wore patriotic coloured clothes, and took flags to wave (at least it's the same colour as the British flag).  Amelia was so excited to see the floats, and especially excited when she found out that they threw out free candy for the children, Matthew had to get a teeny bit protective when the kids next to us began to invade his little girls territory, what a sweet daddy he is.

Here we are waiting for the parade to start, we found a perfect shady spot in front of Central High School.

There were so many fun things to see in the parade, including clowns...

The Dallas Fire Truck, from our home town...

cute Dalmatian dogs walking alongside the fire trucks...

Smokey the bear, he's the one that warns us about fire danger, especially in the forests...

Even Ronald McDonald came, Amelia was so excited to see him...

Look at those rosy cheeks, I was glad that I completely covered her in Sunscreen to protect her pale complexion.

I had to take a photo of the car's that were fitted with hydraulics...

After the parade, we went home so that Amelia could take a nap, after all, it was going to be a late night and we wanted a happy daughter, not a grouchy one.  

We headed back to Independence around 8:00 pm, after stopping at Subway to grab dinner.  There were a lot of people and the atmosphere was great, carnival rides, fabulous smells that you only find at the fair, and lots of music and entertainment.  As we waited for the fireworks, I took Amelia for a walk, she headed right for the amphitheater,  where the live band was playing and before I knew it, she was pulling my hand onto the concrete dance floor.  Although I was nervous about the tons of people who were sat around watching, it was lovely to dance with my girl and seeing her so full of joy made it all worthwhile.

Finally it was 10 o'clock and time for the fireworks to start, after playing the USA's National Anthem, they began, and lasted for probably a half  hour, Amelia was snuggled up in her blanket to keep her warm, but held her flag the whole time.

Looks like daddy is really enjoying the fireworks.

It was a great family day out, and hey the Brits are back!!!