Between the Raindrops

 Talk about Rain!  Now, we are not talking about the kind of rain that is currently washing away Manitoba, but on Tuesday, here, it really did come down.  Pretty much all day. 

Tuesday is the Cookout night, so we had our fingers crossed (we do have a back-up plan, upstairs in the Rec Barn, but not as much fun as the beach...)   The Cookout is at 6 p.m.  At 5.30, the rain stopped, the sun came out. It was warm, it was sunny, it was glorious.  Mist was lifting from the warm water and making pretty pictures. 


The younger kids were all in the water, often with a hotdog in hand.  Emmett is young for hot dogs, but not for water play!  He got right into the spirit of being on a beach!




Our beach is wonderful for kids of all ages, being sandy, shallow, and warm (because it is shallow and sandy!)   Emmett took full advantage.






In fact, he didn't want to come out even to eat... so Jennifer took the meal to him, in the water.  Why not???






After the hot dogs, come the s'mores...




Carefully handcrafted by all ages.  Some prefer their marshmallows crispy. Some like them mildly melted. 

 Some like them charcoal... Some like them almost raw. Or cooked two at a time...


But we haven't found anyone who doesn't like roasting them over the bonfire.

 David demonstrates his favourite version.







Andrew lives in England -- they don't s'more... (poor souls) so he was hungry for a taste of home.




After the watermelon and the s'mores, comes the Seed Spitting. All ages get into this act as well, firing popcorn kernels as far as they can. Which can be impressively far!  Dave Matthews sent one 27'4.  And he is 11 years old! Wow!





And saving the best picture till last, here are the Merwin grandkids, proving again that the 'family who spits together, sticks together!' as they line up at the seed spitting start line.