Celebrating Six Once More

Since we delayed our family breakfast until 10am that meant that I could sleep in Sunday morning until 7am. Now, more than ever, that seemed like a very wise maneuver.

 I didn’t actually get up and out of bed until 7:10am. Once again, I was woken in the middle of the night by the sound of our clunky water meter. This time I was able to fall back asleep rather easily. Mindy asked that I bring her coffee.

 I headed downstairs and prepped coffee before starting my exercise routine. After finishing up the calisthenics I leashed up Ykraps and headed out for our morning stroll. It looked like a beautiful day would be in the offing. The forecast matched. We were expecting sunny skies and temps in the low 70’s – perfect! Perfect for Bella’s party, perfect for growing grass, and perfect for my psyche. 

After our productive walk I delivered Mindy’s coffee. At the same time I gathered running attire. I chose to wear fresh gear as my previously worn winter weight wicking shirt reeked! You know it’s bad when one can smell his own sweaty stench. I left for a run just after 8:30am. I wanted to be back and in the shower by 9:15am. I knew that I’d be in great shape time-wise if I was successful. 

I enjoyed the run winding through the subdivision on such a glorious morning. I was back by 9:10am. I topped off my coffee before heading up to shower and dress. We were both ready to go by 9:30am. We took our time departing the house. It’s typically less than a ten minute drive. But even after taking our dear old time we were still early. But brother Bob was too. He and his family were already waiting inside. Somewhat surprisingly, dad was not yet there. He’s often first. We were seated right at 10am. Cool! I went looking for dad in the parking lot as everyone got settled. Still no sign. He’d figure it out. We talked with him earlier, so we knew that he was on his way.

 We had just ordered our coffee when I spotted dad making his entrance. He mentioned something about one of his mannequins taking an inordinate amount of time to freshen up after some of what he refered to as frisky-fritche time. Not sure what that was about. Once dad was seated we began placing our food orders. The Sun Rise breakfast was ordered by many.

 Bob discussed his coming Halloween party at length. He’s having it in two phases – phase one with kids and their friends. Phase two will be more adult oriented, and without their kids’ friends present. Bob shared an amusing story of how his business survived the power outage from a couple weeks ago. Breakfast was delicious, but found myself in a food coma afterwards. We parted ways around 11am. We went to Target immediately after breakfast. We were shopping for a rug to place in front of our fireplace. There was one in particular that I hoped to find, one I had seen at the Trueman Rd. Target. But they didn’t’ have it at the Hilliard Rome Target. However, they had another we liked and thought would suffice for at least a little while. On top of that, it was on clearance for a measly $9.98 – what a bargain! A few we liked in a catalog were about $150. 

We looked at their Halloween offerings too. It was fun. The only other thing we bought was a pass-the-pumpkin game that Mindy planned to use at Bella’s b-day party later in the day. We were home by noon. We had lots to do to be party-ready. Mindy had me hang Bella’s piñata in the backyard. I was a little concerned that the immediate backyard was a bit over watered to handle all the kids later in the day. But there wasn’t anything I could do about it now other than shut down the mid-afternoon watering cycle. I did that much. 

Soon our party guests began to arrive. It was primarily neighborhood kids/friends, and then Mindy’s immediate family (the usual Sunday dinner gang). We weren’t planning to grill, but Mindy laid out quite a finger food spread. The same stuff she does time and time again.

 Meanwhile, it was such a lovely afternoon. Most of our guests sat out on the deck while the kids played in the yard. After an hour or so Mindy got the kid games going. First, there was pass-the-pumpkin, and then smack the piñata. That’s always a hit! I got some good pictures, or at least I hope. A few of us kept a close eye on NFL scores. Julie was concerned about her Redskins. I was having a most relaxing day of football watching since the Vikings wouldn’t be playing until Monday night.

 Many of our guests left by about 4-4:30pm. However, a handful stayed behind. Collectively, we decided to order some pizza from Minelli’s. Larry & I went to pick them up. The pizza was delicious, even though I didn’t feel particularly hungry at first. By 6pm or so all of our guests were heading for home. I walked Ykraps just before everyone departed.

 Mindy and I did after-party clean-up through the early evening hours. Admittedly, Mindy did most of it. I went out and tinkered with a few of my sprinkler heads. There was a couple that needed adjusted to ensure full coverage. Darkness set in quickly. It wasn’t even 7:30pm. The kids were bathed then placed into their night time holding places (beds). However, before going to sleep we listened to readings by both. 

Sunday Night NFL featured the suddenly fun to watch Steelers against the Jaguars. Ben Roethlisberger gets sacked and knocked down almost every other play these days. However, he’s so big it hardly seems to faze him. We were both sleepy after a busy, hard working weekend. We were in bed by 10pm.