Weekend Report for Mid-July

I love it when Toby takes a Friday off, but it sure makes for a long weekend. Friday afternoon, we went sailing with our friend, Scot, who has a catamaran himself. The wind was pretty strong, but kind of gusty. I got a bit seasick and was not enjoying the sailing as much as usual. Jesse joined us after work for a quick trip across the lake. At one point it rained on us, but there was not a cloud nearby – very odd.

Saturday morning we went for a long bike ride, which was fun. I have not been riding my bike like I should and was a bit worn out. Earlier in the week, I rode my bike and had a little crash. It was no big deal, but reminded me of getting bucked off a horse – you get back on and ride, but the next day you hurt in places you did not realize were hurt.

After the bike ride and showers, we headed over to WF and had lunch with my brother and his family. We did some shopping and some more visiting with Pete. When we got home, it was a bit late for supper, but we cooked and ate outside enjoying the evening.

We had so much fun cooking outside that we decided to do it again on Sunday evening and invite the GGs and Piper’s royal family. We started off with swimming in the kiddie pool. Jesse and GBN1 had several "showdowns" with Jesse saying, "This pool ain’t big enough for the two of us."
Later when the Royal’s arrived, the pool really was not big enough.

We boiled potatoes, corn, and shrimp. We grilled steaks and vegetables. We tried some new beers. Here is Bo with his "got beer" commercial. We finished off supper with an ice-cold watermelon and some fireworks. We had an old-fashioned watermelon seed-spitting contest (Jesse took photos, which I will steal if she does not post). The queen was by far the best spitter – causing some pretty funny moments. The fireworks were not much, but the kids loved them. At one point, GBN1 and the Piper's Princesses got very excited. They were cheering the fireworks when GBN1 said, "Lets all spit!" Her mother was aghast, but it seemed very normal to me. Haven’t you ever been so excited that you just wanted to spit?

The evening ended on a bit of a sour note. GBN2 ignored my warning, and I was not quick enough to stop her when she touched the end of her sparkler and burnt her little finger. Did I mention that drama runs high in this family? GBN2 wailed for a long time. Eventually, I put a Band-Aid (not actually on the burn) on the finger and a drop of mustard (on the burn) and all was a bit better.

It was a great time, but a bit like a storm that blows in quickly, stirs everything up, and then blows out as it came in – fast. After the clean up, we were all worn out.

Funny on Sunday:
We sat in the "overflow room" at church, which means we sat in a small, back room with a TV monitor. The Piper’s sat in front of us. The room has a couple of fans to help keep everyone cool since the air conditioner does not do well in the back rooms of the building. Everyone kept complaining of a high whining, obnoxious noise. I thought it was the fan in the front of the room. People behind me agreed. The Piper and Queen insisted that the noise was coming from behind them. We tried turning off the fans, but it was not the fans. We tried turning off the lights, but it was not the lights. I thought it might be the TV monitor, but the Piper said the sound was coming from my purse. I indignantly said that there was no way that noise was coming from my purse. Then I remembered that one of the Painted Ladies had given me a little fan as a joke. I had put the fan in my Bible bag. Reaching down, I pulled the little fan out and sure enough it had someway turned on and was making the obnoxious noise. Everyone in the room LOL at me. I’m just glad that I was not in the main room with the whole church.
The culprit.