On Saturday before we all came down with whatever it is we have, we went to our neighborhood cookout.
It was fun! We finally got to meet more of our neighbors and hang out. I baked two pans of brownies in throw-away containers, and they were one of the first things gone. I overheard a kid tell his friend that the brownies were really good, which made me feel good. One of our neighbors Cathy, who we met for the first time, organized the event and rented a dunk tank and snow cone machine, which all the kids LOVED. (Shawn ended up getting plastic spoons from our house to donate to the snow-cone eaters.) I knew there were kids in our neighborhood, but I didn't realize just how many! We met Dorothy (79) & Bill (82), who are the oldest residents of the neighborhood still living here. They looked great! She said she raised five boys in her house, and they've lived here since the early 70s. She loves to cook, sew and garden and said she
loved being a stay at home mom. Now her hips are starting to bother her, so she's starting to research retirement communities. She told us to come visit her sometime, and I told her to stop in anytime. I also met a gal named Shannon (I can't remember her husband's name - possibly Greg?) who lives diagonal-ish from us and has three kids: a little blond-haired blue eyed girl named Avery (2ish), a blond-haired blue-eyed little boy (older & playing so I didn't catch his name), and a 6-month old boy named Peyton who weighs the same as da' Bean. So, he and Joshua will go to school together!We talked more with our next door neighbors Karen & Paul Walsh (now we know their last
name) and heard more from him on the living arrangements with his mother-in-law. They are redoing their basement right now and have two sweet kids - Ian (14) and Elizabeth (my guess is 11ish). We also talked to our neighbors across the street, Michelle & Brian Dombach, who had brought us a meal after Joshua came home. They seem like the neatest family. They used to help out with their youth group, too, and have four of the cutest kids we've ever seen (Sicily, Grant, Clayton and Josie). They are also really down to earth. He owns his own business coaching small businesses and asked if I would be interested in more marketing work - absolutely! It would be great if something came of that, and if not, it's still nice to know nice neighbors. We also met Betsy and Joe (I think Betsy & Joe are married, but I could be mistaken since everyone was mingling). Joe came out of his house dressed in long undewear, a flag swimsuit, a towel "cape," goggles, and some sort of cap and called himself "Super Dunk." Up until that point the kids had been taking turns throwing the balls toward the dunk tank and then sitting on the ledge to get dunked. However, everyone went wild over Super Dunk, who eventually talked enough smack to get the adults throwing the ball to dunk him.
After the dunk tank thrill had died down, they had the kids play some relay races and did a water balloon toss and some other games while most of the parents sat around, ate and 
talked. Around 8-8:30ish, Joshua had had enough and we called it a night. I know they were going to play some adult trivia games, create a fire to roast marshmallows and set off fireworks yet, but maybe when da' Bean is older we can stay out later. This was good enough, and I'm glad we live in a nice neighborhood. Our house isn't brand new and obviously needs some work, but we love the location and think it's the perfect place to raise a family.
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