Company Picnic

This past Saturday was Mike's company picnic.  Since he was in California with Daddy Steve, Caleb, & Tyler (guys weekend), Namaw went with me and the boys.  It wasn't like any of the company picnics we used to go to with Daddy Steve's work.  They went all out!

The picnic was held at Big League Dreams.  It's a sports park that has baseball diamonds that are replicas of major league diamonds.  It was pretty cool!  Not only was the facility neat, but there was TONS to do!  First we went for a ride on an elephant.  The trainer told us that our elephant was 37 year old.  Did you know that elephants have the lifespan of humans?  They live well into their 70's!

The boys wanted to visit the face paining booth.  Brody (who has somehow become obsessed with Spiderman...not sure how that happened because I don't think he even knows who Spiderman really is or what he does?!?) wanted a Spiderman face.  Do you think Mike can replicate this for Halloween (I know I can't!!)?

Barrett opted for something Dallas Cowboys related.  She painted a Cowboys star on his cheek. 

Then we spent time playing on all the inflatable things.  An entire ball diamond was covered with different bounce houses, obstacle courses, and other inflatable fun.

 

Around 5:30 we headed for the ball diamond where dinner was being served.  They had hamburgers, hot dogs, BBQ chicken, potato salad, mac & cheese, beans, and all the fixings. They also had popcorn, cotton candy, cracker jacks, peanuts, and looooong licorice strings....EVERYWHERE you went! 

The one thing Mike failed to mention to me was that we were supposed to wear the shirts that came in the bag he got before the picnic. I thought they were just souvenirs.  I had no clue that it was cool for thousands of adults to dress alike!  As you can see from the picture below...everyone had their company shirts on!  I stuck out a little bit in my red shirt!   

After dinner we headed to the circus.  We got to see a few neat acts.  The boys were amazed at one of the magic acts.  It was so cute to watch their wide eyes as they said, "Woa!!!  How do they do that?!?"

We also watched some of an aerial show (acrobats) and watched the human cannonball (I don't have the guts to ever do that!!!)

Then we headed to a ball diamond that was set up for the kids to practice hitting the baseball.  Some of the Texas Rangers staff were helping out. 

Barrett froze at the plate.  He needed more than one person to help him get in the correct position, but once he got going he kept swinging and hit several balls off the tee (of course, they usually plopped off and just rolled a few feet).

 

Brody, on the other hand, didn't require any help.  Hitting off the tee was a piece of cake for him and he hit the balls pretty far! 

After the boys finished hitting one of the hired photographers took pictures of them to make them baseball cards.  They also got to pick out a DVD as a prize for hitting the ball.  Brody picked Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs while Barrett picked Marley & Me (I think he liked the puppy on the cover!)

As we walked back towards the field with all the inflatables, there were some clowns doing a sidewalk act and the boys were mesmerized.  One of them stopped and let us take a picture.

The fireworks show wasn't scheduled to happen until 9:45...and that's too late for the boys to be up on a church night.  So we finally decided to head for home.  They wouldn't let us leave without loading us up with goodies.  We barely made it to the car without dropping everything.  (Notice Barrett waving from the backpack?)

What a fun night!  I think the boys favorite part was the elephant ride.  They're still talking about it!