Service Juris Day at the Park

Well, as a law student, one of the skills we are supposed to acquire is an interest in serving the community.  One way that skill is encouraged is by making all students complete a minimum of 10 hours of community service before graduation.  Community service events must be pre-approved for credit to be obtained.  As a night student who works full time during the day, my options for community service are pretty limited so when I found out about this event at one of our city's largest parks, I decided I needed to participate.  Apparently this was only the second year that this event, sponsored by the law school and many local law firms, had been held.  I really did not know what to expect when I arrived, but I assumed we would probably be cleaning up the park and collecting trash, etc.  Boy, was I wrong!  They had plenty of real work for us all!  Our city has a big event called Festival in the Park coming up in a few weeks so we would be helping to beautify the park for this event.  Thankfully, there were many volunteers that broke up into several large groups.  We assisted Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation with spreading mulch in all the beds in the park.  Trust me, that is very hot, tiring work.  The event started bright and early on Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. so I drug Eddie and Evan out of bed to go with me so Evan could play while I worked.  He was even nice enough to help me a little until he decided he was too hot and wanted an ice cream break!  Ha!

Here are some cute pictures Daddy took of Evan's adventures in the park:

Evan checks out Mommy's work.

Evan lends a hand.

Such a big helper!

The workers

Our beautiful boy

Why do boys love sticks?  It must be from the puppy dog tails part of their composition, huh?

Evan with one of his treasures.

Meeting the ducks. I love this pond and stone bridge.

Yes, this picture did freak me out a little when I saw how close he was to the edge.  :-(

I don't know what I would have done if he had fallen in this dirty water!  This boy knows no danger!

Big smiles on the swings.

I remember taking him to this park when he was only a year old.  Man, times flies!  His first birthday party was here!

Standing on Mr. Frog.

I love this beautiful shot of him on the slide.