I’ve been away from Frail Deeds for more than a couple days but I have a great excuse. I was down in New Jersey again celebrating the birthday of my eldest granddaughter and it was too much fun to even consider the mundane task of writing. You are more than welcome to be spared my shattered prose for these past few days. That vacation is over with my return to the blog ways since I am back entombed in the Man Cave once again.
Birthday Girl with her Mom and Abuela
We stole a march on the FBR with some
pretty comical results Friday morning. She thought we were coming on Saturday
for her scheduled party but we took advantage of the recently discovered
evening travel times on Thursday night. We made the trip in less than three
hours and arrived after the FBR had gone to sleep. My daughter was having
trouble getting the FBR to wake up Friday morning and summoned us to help. We
walked into the room and I bellowed out, “I hear there’s a birthday girl here
somewhere!”. Still half asleep, she stumbled out of bed to give both my wife
and I happy hugs. It was a very funny moment. We walked her to the bus stop and
returned home so my Favorite Panamanian could continue production of birthday
cake and cookies.Bus Stop Friday Morning
FBR and LOL Dolls She Decorated Grandpa Too The Fabulous Cookies
The FBR wanted an LOL themed party. I learned
LOL dolls are the latest craze which I’m still trying to figure out. My wife
had created the cookies at home and was determined to hand decorate each one for
the Saturday party. I didn’t understand because the cookies were so good and we’re
dealing with 6-year-olds so their shelf life was measured in milliseconds after
being served. That didn’t mater as she painstakingly painted each cookie with a
face. The results were awesome.The Cake
The Cake and Cookie Maker FBR with one of Her Best Buds on Saturday
First Friday was a little different
being in the presence of one of the other parties and we had to end more quickly
than usual as the FBR summoned us to her Friday Movie Night viewing. We watched
Clifford the Big Red Dog and competed for popcorn. The FBR has inherited the family
trait of popcorn worship. Saturday brought the party and my daughter and
Wingman were a little concerned about the weather. Due to Covid they couldn’t
hold an indoor party and an outside November birthday party in the Northeast is
not for the faint of heart. There was some scheduled weather coming in but it
was as if the weather gods realized the FBR was not someone to trifle with. There
was a three-hour span of absolutely perfect weather for the party.Party Started
The Birthday Girl's Mom Dance Party Breaks Out
It was so fun watching the FBR and her friends
careen around the back yard. I noticed they all shared so many of the phrases I
hear all the time from the FBR, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” “You’re not
going to believe this!” among many others. The FBR was completely in her
element as the star of the show. She and couple other friends started a dance
party in the middle of the lawn which a couple smart-alecky friends tried to sabotage
by turning off the speaker. Pizza was destroyed along with the aforementioned
cookies who’s demise was correctly forecast. The birthday cake received high
praise and in a nod to pandemic sensibilities there was no candle to blow out
but a sparkler in the form of number six. Bonecrusher made its appearance so the
FBR could correctly sunder her cake with the family blade.Cake Time
Designated Cake Security Officer
The party ended in the early afternoon
and we were then rushing to get everything under cover before the rains came,
and boy, did they come. It was a great day though as the FBR had a truly superb
birthday party despite the effort of the pandemic and November to thwart her.
We spent the rest of the weekend effecting the opening and playing with every
single gift she received over the past week. A lot of dolls were involved.
Wingman had also bought a cylinder of helium to blow up balloons which I was
summarily enlisted in to assist with. We soon had dozens of balloons floating around
the house.Daughter and Wingman
Bonecrusher Deployed
Thankfully much of the play time was
spent with dolls which I could artfully beg off of. My Favorite Panamanian was
not so fortunate but I don’t think she minded, even a little bit. I was
dragooned into working on a gem based art project which involved gluing hundreds
of really small jewels onto a picture, not fun, except for the time spent with
the FBR supervising, sitting in my lap. The most popular activity of the weekend
though was probably the least expensive. The FBR re-invented the age-old game
of keeping a balloon up in the air, without touching the floor while tapping it
to various people sitting around the room. By the end of the weekend all the
adults would be seated, dodging balloons and trying to do their part to keep
them in the air. She did this throughout the Patriots game which was no match
for a determined six-year-old aiming to distract her grandfather. The game was
great though as the Pats scored a convincing win over a team that was supposed
to be good.Of Course there was a Piñata
FBR With her Nails Done Up Grandpa Gluing Gems under a Watchful Eye
The whole group surprised me with my birthday
gift late in the day. The FBR had spent an extra amount of time personally
decorating the wrapping paper. They all got together and got me a wireless printer
which I’ve coveted ever since I saw the one my daughter uses a few months ago.
Of course, I’ll have to wait for them to visit next week to set it up. Its
tough not having an in-house IT section but I want to make sure it’s set up
right and we all know that isn’t my strong point. That Cake Again
We made another night time run back to
Worcester last night and while the traffic was a little heavier I only got held
up a short time in New York before what used to be the Tappan Zee Bridge. My
old nemesis, Connecticut, hardly put up a fight after that. We got home to find
a very quiet house, without a live-in six year old. I can’t wait for Thanksgiving
next week where we’ll rectify that shortcoming as well as augment with the rest
of the granddaughter phalanx of the BRS and BR3.Opening my Birthday Gift
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RECURRING CHARACTERS
BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first
granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best
Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since
high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great
Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue
about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten
whom I reunited with after many years; Pittsburgh
College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in
Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard
deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two
close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3rd musquetera
(musketeer); Riggins - also known as
the Grandpuppy, son's dog; PanaGals
– female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife
accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia
member, Favorite Panamanian - the
wife (of course); First Friday –
celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her
single days in Brooklyn
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