Marika's Cookout...

My sister has this adorable house in Mebane, which is about 30 minutes outside of Durham. She is currently trying to sell it so that she can move back to Durham, but if she could, I know she would pick up her house and yard and transplant it all into Durham somewhere. I wish she could do that too.

A few weeks ago, when Alison was in town for her bachelorette party, my sister had a cookout at her house. I'm not sure if it was the first cookout she'd ever had at her house, but it was the first one that I had attended. It was a lovely afternoon filled with delicious food, conversations with friends, and a wonderful little boy named Wiley (who is in the pictures below looking oh so cute in his "Be Green" monster shirt, which I wish I had in my size).





By the end of our afternoon at Marika's cookout, Wiley could barely be removed from sitting on my lap, was giving me frequent hugs, gave me a kiss goodbye (on my mouth), told me he loved me, and repeatedly said I was his best friend. I would have taken him home with me had I been offered the opportunity! He is such a sweet, sincere, grown-up little kid!



Wiley's brother Archer was hanging out on the blankets, crawling around, spilling food, and generally being the messy little boy that little boys (and girls) should be.



Of course, little kids are always the highlight of any event for me. I could spend hours only conversing and playing with the littlest ones at the party, never talk to the adults, and be perfectly happy with my time spent at any cookout or party.



As you can see from the other pictures, there were actually adults and other beings (namely dogs) at the party. I spent most of my time with Alison and Wiley, but I do love this shot below of one of Wendy's dogs. I can't remember if this is JJ or Pesto, but this might be my favorite photograph I took that afternoon.





Every party should include a slip and slide. Really.







And Bocci ball, which I've never played before...and still haven't.











Designating myself as the "event" photographer, I tried to capture as much of the afternoon as I could. After enjoying the sunny outside weather and all things cookout related, Alison, Alex, and I headed back to Durham stuffed full of food and memories of a great time spent.