Steak on a stick and other fun weekend entertainments

We had a busy weekend, though we really didn't do that much. Friday night, the 3 of us went to Outback for dinner. Charlotte mostly behaved, though for the last 15 minutes or so, my husband and I took turns taking her for a walk to play with the rocks that line the bushes outside the restaurants. Charlie's fascinated by rocks, and re-located several for the restaurant.

Saturday morning, my husband went out for a run early to beat the heat. Our neighborhood was having garage sales, so after breakfast, we walked around to say hi to people and see if there was anything interesting for sale. I spent a whopping $1.50 to buy a shorts outfit and some toy dice in a bag, all for Charlotte. She is fascinated by the dice M. and I use for our weekly D&D game with friends, so I was hoping that her own set (complete with lavender velour baby-sized backpack to hold them) would distract her for at least a while. She insisted on carrying the bag and dice around with her and to church on Sunday, but, alas, they were no competition for the real thing last night. After garage saling, I went out for a bike ride that turned out a little longer than I expected--apparently some of the roads around our neighborhood aren't as straight and square as I thought they were. Luckily most of the way home was downhill :)

Saturday afternoon we went to a friend's birthday party. Charlotte got to play with their two boys (Gavin and Andrew), and to swing on their swing set. After the party we got together with other friends, S&P, and their son Gavin (it was a 2-Gavin day for the munchkin) for an overly greasy dinner at Denny's. Gavin and Charlotte then amused us for a good hour by chasing each other around the house with a beach ball and a lot of high-pitched squeals. Who needs TV when you have 2 toddlers and a circular path for them to run around?

For Father's Day on Sunday, M. wanted to bbq some ribs. He and Charlotte had matching outfits (a t-shirt for him, a romper for her) that I found at the Disney store. M's sister and brother-in-law joined us for the afternoon, and S&P came up for dinner. The ribs were good, and Charlotte ate most of the meat from one (cut off the bone). She called it "steak" :) She also insisted on gnawing on one of the bones like the adults were doing. In the process, she got food all over her baby doll, which she insisted on holding on her lap while she ate. We rounded out the evening with an encore of the dueling toddlers.