a park trip

we've been having a fair amount of rain since we moved here, nearly every day for the last 2 weeks, though not too much on any given day. so when it clears up we try to get out on a walk or something. we made it to the nearest park one day, and were significantly less than impressed with it's completely un-stellar playground (one little slide, and a couple swings). there was a tennis court though, and that was exciting for my kids, and there were a number of pathways so we figure it'll be nice to go bike riding there sometime... maybe :).

anyways, long story short (too late), one afternoon we took our racquetball racquets and some tennis balls to the park after an early dinner as soon as the rain let up. I forgot to take pictures while we were actually playing 'tennis,' but I thought it was really cute! afton's a natural, connecting almost 50% of the time ;). rayna got bored after a bit, and malachi couldn't handle a racquet, but they both loved chasing the balls and throwing them over the net, which was ideal for the beginners trying to connect... aunt emalie had fun trying to keep the balls low enough to not go over the fence ;) but we remembered the camera as the rain started sprinkling again and we decided to rush back home before we got drenched:

i'm not sure where this pose came from, but they were cracking me up

malachi desperately wanted me to take his picture with his water bottle on his head... why? I have no idea.

rayna was also posing, but i'm not sure what she's doing either.

afton was showing off how her hand got all black from the disintegrating handle of her racquet.

again, I just think this kid's funny :D