Croquet

A few Saturdays ago Jerry and Deborah invited us to go with them to a park by the lake and play croquet with them.  Joe rode on the back of Jerry's motorcycle and I rode behind Deborah on hers - that was the best part of the whole evening :) SOOO much faster than walking and a lot cooler and breezier too!

We rode out to the lake and were amazed at how many people were out there!  Joe and I have walked along the lake many times and have seen all of the parks and walkways and playgrounds that have been built, but it's always empty when we go.  We've even commented to ourselves sadly that, "they built it, but no one came."  Boy were we wrong.  Apparently on the weekends it is the place to be.  That place was packed.  Families everywhere, picnics, soccer games, bikers, the benches were packed, the sidewalks were busy, the playgrounds were crowded, and most of the grass areas had been claimed too. 

We found a small area to set up our game and played for a couple of hours.  Within minutes of starting we had quite the audience watching us - apparently they had never seen anything quite like croquet.  I didn't get a picture of all of them, but there were probably 30 people gathered on the sidewalk watching us, and about 10 kids crowded around us - laying their heads down by our balls and picking up the balls to play with them every once in a while.  It was kind of hard to play trying not to hit their heads or their shins and asking them to please leave our balls where they were.  But eventually they all found more exciting things to do and we were able to play in peace and take a few pictures.

Then we drove through the town because they wanted to buy some popcorn for us.  We were stopped by a parade - they have these every few weeks for different saints - so we stopped and watched and took some pictures.  There were a lot of school kids in uniform, some nuns scattered throughout,

a lot of traditional dancing groups with bands playing music for them,

and of course the saint that was being honored, carried through the city by some men.

 The best part was that when it was over and we were getting back on the motorcycles, I saw two moms carrying two little baby girls, probably about 18 months old, that had been dressed up like nuns.  You know when you see little girls dressed up in BYU cheerleader outfits at football games?  Yeah, these people dress up their girls like nuns.  Awesome!  I so wish I had had the camera ready for that one!

We stopped at a popcorn stand, they bought us some popcorn, and then we rode to the cathedral and ate it sitting on the steps and enjoyed some people watching.  It was such beautiful weather and a perfect way to end the day. 

On our ride home it started raining, which made the ride that much better :)  Speed with water (when I'm not the one driving) has got to be one of the best combinations around.  It was such a fun evening and so nice of them to invite us!