Goin' on a Picnic

Last week, Jordan, Kelli, my mom, and I took Cruz and Charly on a picnic.  Although it was on my mom's wish-list for the summer, our picnic wasn't well thought out, nor planned; in fact, we threw the idea together about two hours before arriving at the UNI Prairie a little after lunchtime.  We needed some new pictures of the two cousins together, and wanted to take advantage of our summer vacation and give Cruz and Charly some bonding time.  We loaded strollers and picnic baskets, blankets and photo props, and trudged through thick grass in order to find our perfect location out of the hot sun.  Since Charly is a little unsure of my sometimes aggressive nine-month-old, we didn't know how pictures would go.  I would say, however, that are expectations were realistic, and we were just excited to have the two of them together and watch their little personalities at work.  

At just eight months apart, these two little people share some qualities, but are far different in other respects.  They both have budding little personalities, and equally funny sense of humors.  Charly is walking; therefore, she is all over the place.  Just as we'd lull her over to a spot, she'd sense what we were up to, and casually find somewhere else to go, a proud smile plastered on her face the entire time.  Cruz, on the other hand, was more interested in getting his hands on her Teddy Grahams and Puff Corn, and would occasionally, attempt to get his hands on her pretty dress.  At one point, Charly worked her way next to Cruz, and before a minute passed, Cruz clasped his tiny fist on her dress and yanked.  Charly yelped a surprised little 'oh,' and sprang from her seat to her mom's before we could even intervene.  Cruz?  Well, he sat there, smiled, and shook his head 'no, no, no,' when I did my best to discipline.
 

Too close!

Grandma to the rescue!

Thanks to my mom, we were able to snap a few of the kiddos together.  Mom did her best to make them smile, and their reactions were priceless.  While she bounced around from behind our cameras, shaking toys, clapping her hands, and shouting 'peekaboo' in that perfectly high-pitched voice, you would have thought Cruz was having the time of his life watching her.  Charly, on the other hand, was smiling in satisfaction at the fact that her her grandma was acting pretty goofy all in order to get a smile from her.  So, she smiled, Cruz smiled, and we smiled.  Oh, the things we do to make our littles laugh...

This was the theme of most of the picnic.  Cruz played with the picnic basket while we coaxed Charly to sit beside him.  
  
You want me to sit where?!?!

 

Standing on the picnic basket?  No problem!

Attempting to imitate his 'big' cousin.

We escaped the day with only one minor accident.  Notice that Cruz is sitting beside the cute, white, cottage chair?  That is because he fell out of the cute, white, cottage chair while I was aimlessly snapping pictures of them.  Like a little Humpty Dumpty doll, he fell face first into a patch of (thankfully) soft green grass.  A few minor scratches later, he was fine, smiling away, while the rest of us adults were feeling a little guilty.   

Just one of what I'm sure will be many fun little adventures with Cruz and Charly.  Can't wait to see how they grow and bond in the future.