A Welcome Escape From the Heat

Well, folks, the heatwave continues here in central PA (and much of the rest of the Northeast). Yesterday it was 104, but none of us really minded, because we, along with LL's entire family, spent the day at R. B. Winter's State Park. It was such a fabulous day. All of LL's siblings and their kids, and his parents were able to go, and Taryn actually brought along her sister's 3 kids, so all together we had 10 kiddos. But it was amazingly stress-free. No meltdowns, no chaos, just a whole lot of fun! We got to the park a little before noon, and we had a picnic lunch. We picked up 2 buckets of KFC and brought our own side dishes, desserts, and drinks. And as always with the Reitz's, there was PLENTY of food! :o) After lunch, we headed down to the beach and spent the afternoon playing in the lake. So fun! Our little water baby LOVED it!

Playing with Daddy:


(I jokingly asked him if he "sparkled in the sun" like a vampire, but sadly, no) LOL

She had a great time playing in the sand:



And hanging out with Tabby:


And pretending to be a supermodel:


And then she and Daddy went swimming for real and she L-O-V-E-D it! She kicked those chubby little legs and moved her arms and looked for all the world like she knew just how to swim:



She wasn't the only one who had a great time at the beach--so did the rest of the cousins!







Big Papa and Teddy didn't get in the water, but they had a great time, too:


Collette played and played and played on the beach and in the water. She was having such a great time that I let her play into her regular nap time. She was just as happy as could be, but finally I decided it was time to give her a break. So I got her changed and cleaned up (man that sand is impossible to get off!) and put her in her stroller to go back to our shady picnic area for a nap. About 2.5 seconds later, this is how she looked:


Seriously, it was probably a 2 minute walk, tops, and she was asleep before we got back! And she slept for a good 2 hours.

Eventually, everyone got tired and decided to take a break in the shade:


Here is the sweet girl at our picnic site:


We ended our day by stopping for "dinner" at The Purple Cow ice cream shop, where I got a pretzel cone, which made me happier than it probably should have. :o) If you haven't ever had a pretzel cone, FIND ONE AND TRY IT IMMEDIATELY.

Anyway, we had a great day. Hope y'all did as well. :o)