The Carstens: Neighborhood Block Party

Tonight our neighborhood got together for a block party. I was a little nervous with attending at first, which is totally silly, as it was just Abby and I going since Nate had to work. I was also a little concerned as we had just gotten back from being out of town and I hadn't managed to get to the grocery store to put together some fabulous party concoction. Instead I went with my old standby of BBQ meatballs, which ended up being a huge hit! Another point for the super easy, yet super yummy meatballs! Anyways, back to the point.

The get together turned out to be really fun as I met a few neighbors at the other end of our street whom I rarely get to meet, got to catch up with some neighbors that I haven't seen in a while, and had an evening of adult conversation while Abby played with all the kiddos. We blocked off the street so I didn't even have to worry (much) about her staying on the sidewalk or out of people's way. Everyone was super nice with her wandering all around and she even got a few people to get her more food or drinks when she grunted and pointed at them. :-) I'm glad we have Jen, who is our resident coordinator, continually push for these neighborhood gatherings. Without her I don't think our block would be as cool as it is. As it is I'm looking forward to our next get-together in September.

Some new-to-me neighbors that I met tonight. I hate that I'm terrible at remembering names because she was a lot of fun to talk to. I'll have to ask Jen who she is. :-)

I knew most of these neighbors by sight but it was nice actually talking to them in person as opposed to just waving at them from the car.

Miss Abby had a blast! Tons of kids, lots of free roaming, and oodles of food!

Abby loves watermelon and since she doesn't get it too often (Nate is allergic and I'm not a huge fan) she devours it when she can).

Here she's showing the watermelon who's boss!

I admit I couldn't find which particular watermelon eating photo I liked best so I added them all! It's my blog after all. :-)

I'm still amazed that she ate the whole slice. I'd gotten a pretty big one thinking we could share, but Abby quickly let me know that it was all hers. She ate it down to the rind and then wanted more. That's my girl!

Jake the dog was fantastic with Abby. Here she's sitting and bouncing on the dog. Thankfully she wasn't bouncing too hard and he didn't mind too much.

Another view of Abby's love for Jake.

In other exciting news McGruff the Crime Dog stopped by! I don't even remember the last time I saw him in person. Abby wasn't too sure what to make of him. She saw that he was a puppy, and therefore awesome, but he was pretty big so she kept back a ways. When I picked her up and tried to get closer she let me know that she wasn't really a fan of that so I held off and we just had fun watching from the sidelines.

Once she saw an Explorer (it's a program for high schoolers to early adults who are interested in a law enforcement career but wanting to explore options within that field) passing out coloring books and crayons she was all for getting into the mix of the crowd. :-)