My Little Chocolate Bunny

Last Sunday we were invited to a picnic by one of Chris' business associates in Washington, GA. The Labor Day picnic is an annual event with huge numbers of people in attendance. There is barbecue (this year there was pork, beef, chicken AND goat), a vast array of side dishes populating three long tables and a table dedicated just to desserts. This picnic takes place on a farm outside of Washington and there are cows and horses and dogs and cats and food and it is just FUN!! So Chris, Kimmi, Lola and I piled into the car and drove the two hours to attend for the afternoon. I took Lola's swimsuit along in case we found anywhere to swim that day (the weather was upward of 90 degrees and HUMID). Since were driving by Lake Oconee I thought she would enjoy swimming in a place with no chlorine (the poor thing has such eye discomfort swimming in chlorinated pools). The picnic was a blast, as usual, Lola had a good time in spite of it being HOT HOT HOT outside and on the way home we stopped at a place on Lake Oconee so she could swim. There was also an inflatable Slip 'n' Slide set up and she was ecstatic about playing on it. The only drawback was, in spite of an upward curve built into the end of the slide to keep kids from flying off the end, there were still kids being launched upward and outward onto the ground. That in itself was bad enough, but at the end the grass had been so inundated with water and the stomping of little feet it had become a giant mud puddle. So, with Lola excited to play on this thing and me overcoming the fear of my child breaking bones and becoming a mud-ball, I relented and let her go on it. She was very careful in trying not to go flying off the end (we watched several people who were not so cautious and she paid close attention to the results) but there were a couple times where she underestimated her speed and slid off (thankfully not flying off) the end into the mud. Without hesitation, she went running back to the line to do it again! After awhile of running, sliding and only falling off the end three times out of about thirty passes, she decided her arms hurt from trying to break her fall those few times and her stomach hurt from all that sliding. She jumped and swam in the lake for awhile to clean up and we got her clothes changed and headed home. On Monday she said her arms hurt a lot (muscle strain) so we put cool packs on them and let her rest up. She was excused from P.E. for part of this week and she seems to be doing much better. And yes, we have photos of Lola looking like a chocolate bunny!