It was a HOT day! 

 

 

So we made a picnic, and built a fire and made it hotter!

And people helped and people stacked their hamburgers and hotdogs and ate!

Going through the line

 

Kent stands with Chef J.R.                        People going through the food line

Little people at the table.                         James and Karen

Rachel fixes her hamburger                             Loretta, April and Karen

       

Sometimes a gal needs some space                               Mike attacks the food table.

The crabs were unexpected — but a wonderful blessing.  Freeman Beachy had gone crabbing in the early morning hours and had quite a successful haul!  Almost two bushels of beautiful crabs!  His lovely wife, Loretta, called and asked if it would be an inconvenience if he would bring them, cook them and share them with our chuch.  INCONVENIENT???? Oh, my word!  He must have realized that there are people in this church who would give up eating almost anything for the chance to eat crabbs!  (I knew immediately that we wouldn’t need as many hamburgers and hotdogs!)  And wouldn’t you know, I thought I had a picture of Freeman and Loretta and their Crab Cooking operation, but somehow I missed it!   But here are some Crab EATING pictures —

 

The Crab table, where people could come and select    Tim and Carmen help themselves

 

“They’re really glorified water bugs”           “Who Cares?”

 

Uncle Johnny can do a number on these babies!  At 82, he is champion at getting out crab!

Our neighbor, Nancy, is housebound with rheumatoic Arthritis.  Here her husband, Larry, packs up a few crabs to take home to her.  She is extraordinarily fond of crab, so these were a special blessing to her.

Because it was so hot, there was lots of just lounging around.  The Relays didn’t start until after supper.

 

Val talks to Dave and Ruby                 

Ethan sits in the shade                              Caleb and Kaleb discuss nicknames

“The shade keeps moving around!”                 Evanna and Lindy talk on the front side of the garage

Trees and shade were pretty much the order for the day!

 

The Hammock Girls — Holly, Jessica and Abby

 

Here are Polly and Donna and Dale.  For your information, since inquiring minds want to know, that is MR.JONES EXPRESS HIMSELF
waving in the background.  He is the maker of the little train that brings so much joy to so many people.  He builds and maintains the little cars.  They get rented out for various community activities.  I think the little train has been a part of almost every significant event at Shady Acres for years.  (He is quite camera shy — this is the best picture I got of him all day, despite repeated attempts.)

 

  

What fun when Jesse made the train go in a circle!

You have to have Bubbles at a picnic!

  

Gracie and Salome           She sure knows how to work that machine!!!

     

Big sisters to twirl you round and round. . . . . . . .  And swings to get onto — if you can!!!

And a hundred water balloons were filled by hot, sweaty young folks

  

Caleb and Josh and Dale pretty much handled the filling, while Lori supervised and tied them shut.

And then there were the relays

  

Relays need people to watch — so this is what these people are doing!

Sack Races before Water relays

 

The young one race

      

A storm is moving in, and they need to hurry!  Matthew totes his sack!

 

Oh, pass the sponge from me to you, to you.  Oh, pass the sponge and do just what I do!

 

Hurry, hurry, we need to win!  And the storm is coming!  We need to hurry!

Oh, hurry up!!!  It’s okay to get wet!!!

And the winners get a prize from the candy box!

By now, the storm was really moving in.  We needed to hurry and crank the ice cream if we were going to get it done before the rain.

 

Mike takes his turn at the crank, Jesse and Caleb work on two more freezers while Katie holds the first one down.  If you look, you can see the clouds in the back ground, and minutes later, this is what happened:

A sudden squall caught the canopy and tore it loose and blew it sideways.  People leaped to hold it fast and the strong arms wrestled it to the ground.  No one was seriously injured, but the storm was definitely coming!

  

So the whole crew scattered, and picked up trash and took down the picnic tables and brought everything under cover while the three freezers of ice cream were successfully finished.  Then everyone crowded into the garage and the house and ate ice cream while we watched the terrible storm.

 

   

 

And the kids got wet —

  

And eventually, TIRED. . .

 

And the rain stopped, so people meandered on home. 

What a day!  Never has there been so much help to clean up the outside and never, ever was it accomplished in so short a time.  People just did whatever their hands found to do and they did it with all their might. Thanks, Everyone!

And yes, the house was a wreck, and there was mud on the floor, but it was worth every single minute.