There Goes the Neighborhood

Last Wednesday, we had a neighborhood block party. Our cul-da-sac and the cul-da-sac that is right behind us got together just to get to know everyone better and to meet/greet the newest families that have joined our neighborhood within the last year. Every family was supposed to bring a pot-luck dessert along with a few fireworks to add to the festivities. Rob was so excited to go.... making us leave 45 minutes early... (How long does he think it takes to walk one street over???) Needless to say, we were super early and since we didn't know for sure whose house it was at, (Our invite just said it was on the cul-da-sac next to ours...) and no tables/people were out we decided to just go to the park for a while. I just love how convenient the park is.... This way we wouldn't look so obvious that we were excited about the party. Going to the park was the perfect solution. Maysie was running around everywhere grabbing just about every stick she could find in the grass. Rob and I sat like bums in the grass just watching Maysie and her zest for life. Once we wasted enough time and we knew for sure where the party was... (I did guess the right house) we walked back into the neighborhood to join the party that was just starting to bloom. There was so many yummy treats and it was fun just chatting with everyone. We had everything from ice cream and cupcakes to smores bars and strudel and you can't forget the salt water taffy. It almost seemed like a small church gathering of sorts, because all of my neighbors are the people I know best and associate the most with at church, although with my calling I am branching off of my main traveled streets in our neighborhood since most of our ward is outside my street and the street behind our house... Imagine that! Ha Ha Ha :) Maysie was trying to chase our little neighbor boy, Cody around who is about 8 months older than her. Cody would try and play with Maysie too. It is fun watching her interact with her peers and make friends. Maysie also became quite infatuated with Cody's dad Matt. She would go to him when he would reach out for her, and she quickly decided that he was her best friend when the glow stick jewelry got brought out for the kids and he was the holder for all of his boy's glow stick bracelets. :) When it got dark everyone gathered around and the kids all got to play with sparklers and snaps. Maysie loved the sparklers! She wasn't scared at all to hold them. In fact, she like it so much she kept trying to tough the hot flame and put it in her mouth. She couldn't quite figure out the snaps. We showed her how you have to just throw them down on the ground, and once she got over of trying to eat them first she would try and throw it down but she couldn't throw them hard enough to make them pop. When the kids were all done with the little things, we got out the bigger fireworks. I quickly discovered that alot of our neighbors were pyro's. They were lighting the fuses with blow torches and would often set of 4 or more at a time, just for the effect. All in all it was quite impressive and really a blast! Sorry for the pun... I just couldn't stop myself. ;)'