Illinois EKC Picnic
Today was our first (hopefully annual) Illinois Ethiopian Kids Community Summer Picnic. We had a fantastic turnout with about 75 people in attendance, and we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day or a more idyllic location.
In order to properly decorate, we had the Habesha man climb a tree to hang Ethiopian and American flags.
While shopping for supplies last night, I came across a "double layer cookie cake" that just so happened to be decorated in red, yellow and green. Immediately I bought it (A layer of frosting sandwiched between 2 gigantic chocolate chip cookies? Not exactly a hard sell. And the colours? fate. or so I thought...)I figured I'd just get some extra frosting and draw Ethiopia in the center of the "cakie". Clearly cake decorating is not my thing. Ethiopia ended up looking quite, ahem, "textured". I will attribute that to an attempt to be topographically correct.
Nancy, on the other hand, is Martha freaking Stewart and totally showed me and my sad "cakie" up with her too-beautiful-to-eat cupcakes. Thanks Nancy!
By far the best part of the day was seeing the kids playing with one another.
I think that developing and nurturing these connections will be so important to our children throughout their lifetimes. And, as I've said countless times before, I have met so many phenomenal families throughout this process. I'm honoured to be a part of such a great community.
Getting a group photo of all the kids seemed like a great idea. However, after mere seconds, complete pandemonium ensued. I have no idea how children's photographers capture their subjects with such grace. Just when everyone got situated, somebody would make a break for it... Here's our best effort!
After all of the day's festivities, the twins were pooped:
(Our drive was only about 7 minutes long)
posted by jayme @ 4:15 PM
8 Comments
8 Comments:
Very cute pictures! I agree about those relationships - very important. Is EKC only an Illinois thing? I wonder if I could start one here if there isn't one yet... hmmm - well you've got me thinking! :)
The original EKC was started by an adoptive family in Minnesota in an attempt to connect with other local families who had been touched by adoption.
We started our group with a similar goal~ connecting with each other and also ultimately helping to keep our kids connected with their birth culture.
We started by getting the word out that we were interested in this and collecting names. Last April, several families met for lunch at a local Ethiopian restaurant. In December, a family hosted a holiday party, and by then our community had grown quite a bit. There was a cooking class in March, which we hope to repeat. This picnic was our third official family event, and our list of families is still growing exponentially!
We're hoping to start some informal monthly playgroups, as most of the kids are fairly young. As they grow older, we hope to incorporate cultural experiences and classes in language, dance, cooking, and anything else that families seem interested in. Another goal of ours is to connect with local Ethiopian families so that we can share in a deeper cultural exchange.
I know that other groups have been forming throughout the country. I know there are active groups in the DC area, the Bay area, Wisconsin, and I know there's one more somewhere in the south (North Carolina, maybe?)
I really feel strongly that these connections will be important to our kids as they grow up. I'm already having visions of repeating that last picture every year until they're teenagers (hopefully by then they'll be able to sit still for the photos!)
Thanks Jayme! That helps so much- I'm excited to try and get one started in our area!
It looks like you guys had a blast! I might need to plan a trip to Illinois...
Kellie, we would *love* to see you! I was actually talking to Jessica and would love to plan a day trip to Wisconsin with the twins...
What great pictures! We're in Eastern Iowa so I'm hoping we can make it out to your annual event one of these times! I think it'd be worth the drive. What beautiful babes!
That would be great Jayme! I think you still have my email address...Let me know of you guys have a date in mind.
My brother lives in Chicago, so I know we will be down in your neck of the woods one of these days too.
I LOVE the photo of them konked out in the car! The great outdoors and socialization can be pretty exhausting!
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