Our Memorial Day

We woke up without any big plans for the day, just some yard projects and a cookout in the evening. I had not even talked to my extended family about the cookout until that morning. Then our nephew and his wife, who recently moved here, called to find out what we were doing. I told them about our planned work and cookout and welcomed them to come. He said great, he'd love to come help work and play.

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This nephew is great because he's young, strong and FULL of energy. Before long he and my daughter's fiancee had the trampoline net up and the kids were bouncing away. The little ones enjoyed the "baby" pool while the big pool was being drained and cleaned out. Our nephew went immediately from the trampoline net job to vacuuming the water and leaves out of the bottom of the pool, which involved lifting the wet-dry vac out of the pool and emptying it over the sides every couple of minutes. The kids got in and scrubbed the sides. Before long we were filling it up, telling the kids it would be at least tomorrow until they could swim. Boy, were we wrong! Whoever knew that two inches of water could provide hours of fun for so many children? They stayed in until dark, playing games and sliding around. I got to cuddle my niece on the hammock while the other children entertained themselves in the pool.

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Other things that were accomplished were the planting of more green beans, mulching and watering the garden, mowing and weed-eating.

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Later in the afternoon, my sister and her family came over and at around 6pm, Grandma and Grandpa and my daughter's boyfriend (who's got a better word for the young man who's courting your daughter?) came over just in time for the truckload of meat that I had grilled. We had steaks, chicken and a few burgers. When everyone put their food on the bar, we had a feast.

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After dinner and visiting, we played the Poetry Game. This is where everyone starts a poem with the first line and then passes it to the next person. The next person adds their line and then folds the paper back so the next person will only see the last line written. Then they have to add a line, etc. This isn't always fun with just anyone, but with our family, it get's crazy. We played this game until 10:30 at night and then everyone started winding down.

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The house is a disaster this morning, but it was worth every bit of mess!