So the family reunion was a lot of fun, exhausting, but fun.
Friday when I got home from work HDiTty was still packing up his stuff for Sat. but he was physically ready to go which I was happy to see. After helping him pretty much finish packing we set off for the bowling alley. There were already several people there, the room we had reserved was already packed to the gills. We collected our refund of $5.00 each and while I had him write out our name tags I headed to the fruit table to deposit the honey dew I had cut up the night before.
I was worried that there wouldn't be any food I'd want to eat except for the fruit and veggies since we were having a taco bar (not big on the Mexican food). But there was some shredded chicken that looked really good so I put some in a tortilla shell and had a meat only taco along with the fruits and veggies. Then I went back and got a few chips to munch on as well.
Once my family was done eating we got 3 lanes and put the younger kids on one lane and the rest of us took the other two. HDT did awesome in his first game, something like a 201 I think it was. He had 6 strikes in a row and then in the 10th frame for his first ball he got 7 then spared it and then another strike. It was a lot of fun to watch my family react to how well he was doing, I was very proud of him. I started out horribly but ended up doing pretty good, ended just over my average. The second game I did under my average by 10 pins. HDT did real well again, I think he got something like a 170.
We had booked the room until 11:00 which was what time the whole place closed but we ended up getting out of there just after 10:00. Everyone had a great time and only a few people stuck around at the bar until closing.
Saturday ended up being a great weather day. It started kinda rainy but that cleared out by 9:30/10:00 and stayed cloudy most of the day. It was a little humid but not uncomfortably so, a breeze would've made it better but it still was good. You didn't break a sweat just sitting there like you do on some days. Each of the families had their own color t-shirt so we could tell who belonged to who and it was quite amusing to me to see each of us in our own little areas. There was only a little mixing going on. I forgot the camera at home and was really disappointed because I wanted to take pictures of how segregated we all were from each other. Here we the committee spend almost 2 years planning this and then we all just stay with our own families for the most part. It was quite amusing to see.
The pig roast was a big hit, everyone who had it really liked it. The chicken apparently was kinda dry, at least the breast meat, but they said it was still good. One of the committee members suggested ice cream and we weren't sure about it at first. But she said it was done at a company picnic she went to years ago and it went over well. She said they buy the dilly bars (or whatever) for a dollar each and then they're held in a freezer and you just put a sign on saying one for each person. Since we had extra money we decided to go for it and sure enough it was another big hit.
My nieces kept trying to get me to play volleyball but one of the other families were playing and I just didn't feel like to do it. I told them I'd play kickball and they jumped at that so we grabbed my nephews and brothers as well and headed out to the field. I told the kids to try to recruit others to play and of course they didn't but while I was putting out the bases a few other kids from other families started to wander out to play. We ended up with about 7 others besides my family. Two of my brothers were the designated pitcher and catcher. And of course while we were out in the middle of the field the sun decided to start peaking through the clouds. My team lost but only by 5 runs - we played to 21.
After that I had to rest, my feet were killing me, well mostly my big toe on my right foot. Our large family is prone to bunions and my right foot is getting one. The bone hurts every now and then and especially when exerted.
After awhile Wayne got a few little kids and his two teenagers together to have a water balloon toss game. Once I saw that I was all over it. Since his two kids and I were the only older ones and the little ones kept dropping, so therefore busting, their balloons right away we'd switch partners to give each of them a chance to last longer than just the first round. But slowly we kept getting more and more people of all ages so the rotating stopped. His daughter and I were partners at that time and ended up doing really well so we remained partners. And I gotta say, out of something like 10-15 games we won almost all of them or at the very least came in 2nd. We decided that we'll remain partners for any future games. The little ones were having a blast busting the water all over themselves more than the tossing since by then the sun stayed out permanently. After the last game Wayne says there was just enough to have a fight and the little ones were all over it and started throwing 'em big time at each other. His two kids then picked up the bucket which had water in it to keep the balloons from breaking and started fighting over it trying to dump it on each other. His son ended up with it in his hands and dumped it over his sister spectacularly. Luckily she had a tank top under her t-shirt so she took it off to dry in the sun.
After that I decided it was time to actually mingle with the cousins. Did that until it was time to go. I got lucky, I was in such a good conversation with a couple of them that we got out of packing the place up. I only had to follow my family back to mom's house to help unload the trucks.
I got some dinner on the way home and after letting Poydras out sat on the couch exhausted. I finally made myself get up to drag my tired ass body to bed by 11:00. I woke up sore as can be. My thighs and hamstrings were so damn sore and stiff it was unreal. My lower back hurt just a little but I think that was more from the way I had slept than anything because it was fine after being up for about an hour. I took a long hot bath to help with it all and it did seem to help.
And other than running to the store to grab a little bit of food for the day I vegged on the couch watching Grey's Anatomy all day long. It was a nice relaxing day.
Media quote of the day:
Do you know where I'll be this weekend? The Lane family reunion. Dozens of Lanes from all over the country converging in one Midwestern split-level to remind themselves why they scattered in the first place. Jane from the tv show Daria
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