I
slept so well last night. I believe it was a combination of enduring another
one of those near perfect family weekends and chasing granddaughters around.
Probably more of the latter. It still confounds me that these little creatures
can extract so much vigor from me; they are energy vampires (but in the best
way possible). The official Mother’s Day celebration weekend kicked off Friday with
the arrival of the New Jersy bunch. The FBR’s first question was predictably
when her cousins would be arriving. My daughter’s family arrived in time for
the First Friday Family Facetime call which was only notable for a vicious assault
on my person by my Favorite Panamanian. I was sitting in front the screen and she
was standing behind me when I made some sort of wise ass remark about her (as I
am wont to do). She responded by giving me a sharp rap on the top of the head
(as she is wont to do). She and the entire family gasped when they realized I
still had the surgery incision healing on the impact point. She felt so bad
that I decided not to punish her by saying it hurt (it did a little). My son,
for some reason, seem to take a lot of pleasure in the action, laughing almost uncontrollably.
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| Official Fam Picture on Sunday |
Saturday
was the main event of the weekend as we were celebrating Mother’s Day a early since
the New Jersey bunch had to depart Sunday morning. My son’s family, as well as
Great Aunt, Keene Friend, and the ABFA’s parents were joining us. I tried a new
tact when the FBR’s early morning questioning commenced about her cousins’ arrival
time. Instead of answering I whipped out the phone and said let’s call your uncle
to find out. She was appropriately shocked, ran and hid when he answered. I thought I had successfully
quelled the incessant FBR questions until my son ruined it. He assured the FBR
she should feel to ask me about their arrival times as frequently as possible.
A real dick move.
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| FBR with her mom and Abuela Upon Friday Arrival |
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| FBR Helping Abuela with Cookie Prep |
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| Flashlight Parade in Abuela's Shoes |
We
enjoyed the FBR’s company as much as possible because we knew as soon as the cousins
arrived, we would become the proverbial chopped liver. While awaiting, she took
to parading around the house with July 4th flashing lights. I’m not sure
why but it must have made 8-year-old sense. As we neared the cousin arrival
time, the redundant FBR questioning took on an almost fever pitch. I suggested she
go outside to keep an eye out for them. Remarkably she spent the remaining time
out on the front porch waiting patiently (not her strong suit). She loudly
announced their arrival for the entire house (and neighborhood) to hear. We got
in a couple quick hugs from the BRS and BR3 before they disappeared with the
FBR to do cousins things. They were soon traipsing around the house with each wearing
a selection form my wife’s shoe horde which they had raided.
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| The FBR Vigil |
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My Wife is a Pinterest Fanatic
She Created this Fruit Plate |
The
rest of us settled down to celebrate the amazing moms we were blessed to be celebrating.
It sounds like a hall of fame roster: my Favorite Panamanian, my daughter, the
ABFA, Great Aunt, and the ABFA’s mom; great moms all. Based on the prior years’
endeavors with male culinary efforts, it was decided (decreed) that the main
meal would be catered. That allowed more time to just hang out with and enjoy
the company. That included Keene Friend who was at his snarky best with the dry
humor zingers. Riggins patrolled the house which meant anything falling to the
floor was his, although he is much more polite about it than Buddy the Wonder Pooch
ever was.
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| Most of the Group |
I
picked up the food from Ciao Bella (great as always) and was able to set up the
buffet line with only minimal (for her) help from my Favorite Panamanian. The
food was well received and Great Aunt had a son grilled steak since Ciao Bella
is great with most things but is decidedly non-Gluten Free (probably why it tastes
so good). This was followed by a literal parade of desserts. I am not exaggerating.
I’m not saying my family was playing games with me since they knew I was trying
to lose weight but the assembly of sweets was breathtaking. We’re talking
cookies, brownies, candy, etc. etc. This entire weekend was an acid test for my
self-discipline. The word I am looking for is, “Yikes!”.
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| The Moms |
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| Moms First in Buffet Line |
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| Wife with Kids and Grandkids |
All
day long the BRS, my fellow family pyromaniac, had been entreating me to have a
fire. Since part of the Favorite Panamanian’s backyard makeover including parking
a huge flower pot in my style challenged fire place, I wasn’t keen on
fulfilling her request, even when her cousins added their voices to the request.
I told them since it was Mother’s Day, the requests would have to come from the
moms. I thought I was safe as they received a summary denial at their first
request. One thing I’ve learned about my granddaughters, they do not take an initial
“no” as the final answer. They continued wheedling for the rest of the
afternoon until my Favorite Panamanian reluctantly agreed to allow us to move
the flower pot and have the fire. I was so happy my son was around to do the moving.
I ventured into the back yard woods to gather some hopefully quick burning pine
branches. The BRS was mollified, although we did not have the makings for s’mores
in house which I think constituted the reasons the FBR and BR3 had taken up the
call for a fire. It was still a lot of fun hanging out with them and letting
them throw things into the fire when the moms weren’t looking. The fire was
followed by a dance party in the living room as the granddaughters honed their
bedtime delay tactics.
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| The Fire |
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| Dance Party |
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| The Macarena (God help us) |
Great
Aunt, Keene Friend, and the ABFA’s parents had to depart just prior to sundown
but we still an assemblage of worthies to make a superb evening. The granddaughter
going to bed ritual was the usual marathon versus a sprint as each took a turn
at preventing the other two from actually going to sleep, despite a very full
day. They eventually succumbed to the tiredness but not without their usual
fight. Instead of moving down the Man Cave, we settled around the table for a
very fun evening of talk and laughter. Wingman had brought a variety of board games
which the “kids” enjoyed. They eventually coaxed my Favorite Panamanian and I
to join them in a couple games. A truly great night to cap off a fabulous day, celebrating
the remarkable moms.
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| Sunday Morning Early Risers |
Sunday
started off very early. The granddaughters have installed a system for wakeup
time in the granddaughter room. Whomever wakes up first, no matter what the
time, finds away to wake up the other two. The usual suspect in this initial endeavor
is BR3. While she usually wakes up at home between 4:30 and 5, she normally just
turns over and falls back to sleep. Of course, the granddaughter room offers a target
rich environment, in the form of her soon to be awake sister and cousin. My son
and I ran into each other in the hallway outside their room around 5am as we
converged to tell them to be quiet. That never works and he eventually herded
them downstairs so the moms could sleep in on actual Mother’s Day.
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| Wife Breakfasting Sunday with the "Kids" |
The
fun continued when the rest of us came downstairs to relieve my son. The BRS
kept her crown as the family hojaldra queen, eating them faster than my wife
could make them. My Favorite Panamanian received a dispensation to do some
cooking on the holiday after last year’s attempt by my son and I to cook hojaldras
went disastrously awry. After everyone was fed, the preparation for departure sadly
started up. My daughter had a Curbside Girls celebration since most are moms
now to make it to in the late afternoon back in Maplewood. The FBR was not
pleased to be leaving and petulantly declared that she was not leaving with her
parents. They, of course, overruled her attempted secession and got off shortly
before noon. My son applied his recognized barbecue skills with some delicious dead
animal flesh for a Sunday steak dinner. Sadly, they too had to depart immediately
after the meal. They were barely out of town before we received a text from the
ABFA documenting that both the BRS and BR3 were asleep. My wife and I knew how
they felt as we both decided some recovery time was needed in the wake of the “granddaughter
occupation”. It was a great weekend, especially since we got to honor those
very special moms who have made all of our lives so special.
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| The Wifely Rolo Challenge |
Today’s
weigh-in, 14 pounds lost towards 25-pound goal. Which I consider remarkable considering
the amount of sweets I was exposed to this past weekend combined with my Favorite
Panamanian placing my favorite all time candy, Rolos, in the kitchen. Thanks to
the Army instilled discipline, or remnants thereof, I didn’t eat a single one.
Yet!
In
my A-Z watch, three fell since I last posted, all keepers but a couple barely, In
Harm’s Way, awesome John Wayne WW2 navy soap opera with the Duke being the Duke
and a fantastic cast; In The Name of the king, extraordinarily silly with
Statham as a famer who can outfight everyone with Burt Reynolds cringingly bad
as a king; and In Search of the Castaways, one of my favorite movies as a kid
that has aged incredibly poorly, still has Haley Mills though.
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RECURRING CHARACTERS:
ABFA – Amazing Best Family
Athlete - my daughter
in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter
#3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel -
second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue
about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut
Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor
of the big river; Curbside Girls – close
friends of my daughter acquired during him her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which
grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of
course); FBR - First Blog Reader -
first granddaughter; First Friday –
celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene
Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene,
NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend
since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife –
her US sisters, my wife is the 3rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew –
son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia
member; 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; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor
Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Seis Amigos
- two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger
sister; Wingman
– my son in law; Wingmom –
Wingman’s mom, of course
