Holiday Weekend
What a holiday! Friday, being the 4th, you’d think would include some sort of relaxation or patriotism or something. No. Not really. Oh, there were fireworks, and we’ll get to that, but mostly it was just running around like crazy people. We had thrown out an invitation to everyone in our families to join us for a casual day at our house. We still had Rock Band from my birthday party borrowed in the living room, our house has a pool, and we could bar-b-que for lunch. Anyone that wanted to was welcome to just come and hang out and enjoy the day off of work. But, once we realized how many people were going to be coming to our house in answer to that off-hand invitation, we got a little nervous. The hand-me-down grill that we had received a few years ago when my dad got a brand new grill for Father’s Day was now rusted out and a slight hazzard. I don’t know that I would have wanted to grill on it even if it WOULD cook more than one piece of meat at a time in the left hand corner over the only section of flame where the gas could escape the corrosion. We really didn’t have the money for it, but we all of a sudden felt the need for a new grill.
Happy reminder…Jon had gift cards! For the last several holidays and for his birthday, Jon had received gift cards to Home Depot. Home Depot sells grills! Let’s go! The morning of the 4th, we hit the Depot closest to our house…unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones with that thought, and we wandered through the mountains of grills in a crowd wondering what was going to work for us. We finally found one that looked promising…this one was the right price…attractive…it would probably even fit in the trunk of my car. Sweet…but let’s check one more time just to be sure. We started the circuit of the grills for the final time, and as we reached the far side of the sea of steel hoods, we saw a couple of smiling guys followed by an orange vested worker with a dolly. They loaded up the grill we had nearly decided upon and rolled away. Uh…Hello?! Can they do that?! I scanned all the boxes on the shelves, and Jon checked i.d. numbers against the sign that was now standing behind an empty space on the platform, but there was no other grill like the one we had wanted. I stood in the spot of the vacated grill and waited for another orange vest to appear to assist us. Luckly, Super Hannah…Cutest Baby in the World was there on Daddy’s shoulder and drew in two vests at once to smile and coo at her. Between Aww’s and Oooh’s, we finally found out that there were no other grills like ours at that location but that two of the other stores had several. They offered us an upgrade at the lower price to buy something from them, but in the end, we really did like the other grill better, and decided to hit Foothill for the one we liked best. Super Hannah blinked goodbyes and smiled sweetly to the orange vests and thanked them for their kindness.
Foothill is not nearly as well laid out a store as our regular location, but after a lot of searching, we found the grill, boxed and ready to go. Phew! Jon loaded it into our cart with some surprising ease for as heavy as the whole thing was, and then spent a little time deciding on what sort of utensils he wanted to hang from that grill as well as what cover would keep it safe from the elements. Once all the accessories were in the basket, we ran through an extensive self-checkout, using up all of the gift cards, and then carted our goodies out to the car. Super Hannah in her seat. Utensils in the back. Then…Ut-oh…grill box, wedged in the trunk, but not tightly enough to feel like we could drive away and not kill someone on the freeway between there and our home. CURSES!!! Back inside ran Jon for a last-minute purchase of bungies and we strapped that big ole box in tight. Thanks a lot to the lady with the brilliant idea to pull the components out of the confining box so that the pieces could be rearranged in the trunk to the most agreeable layout since the box is useless and garbage in an hour anyway. We wished she’d come along before we bought ten bucks worth of bungies. Oh well. Bungies always come in handy.
Running home we got yet another call from Jessica wondering where we were. The parents were there, Jessica and her family and kids were waiting, and my brother and his wife were lounging in their truck in the driveway. Where were we? COMING! Sorry! Ugh….SO sorry! There’s a key…let yourselves in. We arrived shortly after that and ran as swiftly through changing and feeding Hannah as we could so that I could rush everyone over to the pool for the swimming that they’d come for. The nazi’s at the check-in gave me dirty looks when I assured them that we knew the rules, we’d shower before entering the water, and that all our infants were wearing plastic panties. I swear! We’re good people. We just want to swim! I spent an hour in the kiddie pool with Hannah, Luke and Jenna joined us off and on. Hannah is still the cutest thing ever in that swimsuit under the cover of her lounging floaty.
I could tell that I was starting to crisp a little bit on one shoulder, so I gathered Hannah up, told the family to stay in the water for as long as they wanted, but that I was going to head back and clean up. When I got there, I found that our grill was fully assembled. My brother had come to hang out, possibly thinking to play Rock Band, but as soon as he heard that there was a gadget needing construction, he was on the job. That’s Dave. He’s a puzzle freak and loves a challenge. As I walked in the door I found that Jon was the one playing Rock Band, dad was reading a book on the couch, and Dave and his wife Maile were putting the final touches on the grill. Bless them! I think Jon offered to help, but knowing Dave, he was waived away so that Dave could do it and know that he’d done it himself.
I jumped in the shower, helped with lunch, and by the time it was all said and done, we’d pulled off a pretty fun bar-b-que with lots of help and many apologies for the delays. Family are awesome!
Later that night we took the short drive over to Dave and Maile’s house for some more bbq and fireworks. Dave is notorious for his clandestine trips to Wyoming, and the show we’ve documented in video is strictly for family eyes…nothing will be sent to tip off the cops or curb the show for next year! But, the ribs were superb, the family conversations ENTIRELY entertaining, and Hannah sparkled as much as the lights in the sky on her first 4th of July.
Saturday turned into a day of work, but it was so satisfying! Jon actually finished tweaking an entire photo shoot, which is huge, and which usually takes him at least two or three days. I used a gift card of my own to buy a set of shelves for the garage and spent the day cleaning, doing laundry, and getting our lives into a little bit more order. Ahh. So grown up and boring, but I really do feel better about what I accomplished than I would have felt about taking a trip or lounging around watching tv. I got naps on Sunday, and a great dinner with Jon’s family, so all in all it was a fantastic weekend! It went too fast, and now it’s just another work-week, but what a holiday weekend!!!
Once again, Happy 4th of July everyone!!!
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