The Birthday Bash, unusual Sunday, goodbyes

Saturday’s Birthday Bash was spectacular. The unfortunate part of the event is that no one came from outside the family, but we had a great time. Seth and company, Trace and company, Grandpa and Grandma all backed out because of the fear of COVID from Cori – which I think is nonexistent. She will have to be tested Wednesday for their flight home. We will know for sure then.  negative test is required for them to be able to enter Honduras. They will flyout Saturday. It was kind of amusing to see how the brave talk about COVID disappeared once the “threat” was somewhat more defined.

Anyway, we smoked ribs and chicken. We grilled three different types of sausages. We made potato salad and baked beans. We did it all. And we had a great time doing it. Of course, there were plenty of leftovers. We saved the ribs for Sunday lunch and even then we froze a good portion of what I smoked. They came out so good. I was very pleased. Norman and Grandma did finally come over in the early afternoon. Norman made a huge batch of homemade vanilla ice cream which turned out really good. We ate it with Grandma’s blackberry cobbler.

The highlight of the party was Bro Daniel. Immediately after he got off work, he got on his clown outfit and entertained us for over an hour making corny puns and balloon animals. The kids were laughing until their sides hurt. Cori had to leave for a few minutes to let her face relax. She, Mama and Victoria were laughing the entire time at Bro. Daniel’s hilarity. As an outcome of that entertainment, Grant began to try his skills at making the balloon animals and by the end of the day he had mastered five or six shapes. I was impressed. The only downside is that we had the skinny balloons all over the house in various progressions of practice to make the animal forms. But even that all worked out. We used those on Sunday.

We did not go to church Sunday due to Cori’s unknown illness. The only symptom Cori had the entire weekend was the loss of taste or smell – which could have been anything from a sinus infection to dehydration to allergies to fatigue. But in this COVID obsessed world we had to err on the side of uplifting those who live in fear. The Pastor was faced with a church service without a song leader, without a pianist and without a special singer lined up. Everyone was out in some stage of isolation or quarantine. So, he winged it and pulled it off by having a missionary wife play the piano. Bro. Zach led the singing and Zach’s wife Alissa sang, even though she had sung last Sunday morning. We listened online. I began warning up the ribs and baked beans before the sermon started and we ate shortly after church concluded.

After lunch, I got out all my pistols and my .22 rifle and we set up targets down in the farm lot. After everyone had gotten a couple chances to shoot targets and learn some of the basic rules of handling a pistol and a rifle, we moved to the pond. That is where all the best memories were made. It was the first time Blake and Grant had gotten to shoot a pistol of any type and I had two types to pick from.

I had Mama retrieve some plastic bottles from the house and we threw those and the balloons into the pond and shot at those as targets. The benefit of shooting into the water is that you can clearly see there each shot hit. It helped everyone who participated to improve their aim. Mama used her mower like a four-wheeler making trips to and from the house and after Mykenzie got her fill of shooting, she and Savanna rode around on the mower while we stayed at the pond. The best part of shooting the plastic bottles is that when you hit them just right, they will pop out of the water. Once I got one to fly up about fifteen feet above the water. I will have to gather the bottles from the pond eventually, but it was a great tool to teach everyone how to refine their aim. Nate served as instructor. The boys will remember that activity for a very long time. We ended the evening sitting by the campfire after we watched the evening church service online. The kids threw confetti filled Easter eggs at the fire and each other until the entire supply – which was extensive – was used up. It was a wonderful weekend.

This morning we had to say goodbye. I made a quick run to Chico to get kolaches for the long ride to Memphis, where they will spend the night at a motel inside the Bass Pro Shop. After shooting yesterday, they are seriously excited about that. Like always, goodbyes are not fun. So, we focused on “see you later.”

Plans are already in the works to bring that about.