Cookout!

When I think of summer, I think of swimming pools, the beach, picnics in the park, cookouts,  amusement parks, carnivals, boardwalks, fireworks, cotton candy, and ice cream (just to name a few things).  While I haven't created a summer bucket list, per se, I do have an agenda in my head of all the special summertime things I would like our little family to accomplish before the colder weather sneaks up on us...

One of those agenda items was getting together with my two childhood friends and their families at Camp Chase!  About three years ago, my good friends Jen and Debbie introduced me to this wonderful YMCA day camp in their area (which is approximately an hour away from my home).  The camp facility has an extra large swimming pool with slide, a fun splash pad, a full playground (complete with a very long tube slide), skate board ramps, basketball courts, and two pavilion picnic areas.  (I've also recently learned that if you venture out on their nature trail, they have an archery area and a tree house full of books too.)

Fortunately, both of my friends and their families were available last Sunday for a good old fashioned cookout at Camp Chase.  We grilled the hotdogs and hamburgers, and they brought the yummy garden salad, pasta salad, drinks, and snacks.   I must say that the cookout was awesome.  After a fun day playing in the pool and splash pad area, we set up camp at the more "secret" pavilion near the woods, and the kiddos, accompanied by "Aunt Debbie," enjoyed a fun jaunt on the nature trail while we finished cooking the food. 

Afterwards, we ate until our hearts' content, played on the play ground, and then reluctantly said our goodbyes before the camp closed for the night.  In all, it was one of those days that made me glad for summer and glad for the relationship I have with my two good friends and their families.    Camp Chase is just one of those wonderful summer traditions (for three years now) that Little Lewie will be able to look back upon with fondness as part of his childhood.

The pavilion by the secret nature trail...