Father's Day 2013

As you may recall, I hosted Father's Day last year. I don't have the largest house, but I do have a large family. I was a little worried about the comfort level, but as long as the weather was good we'd be fine as people could spread out into the yard. Turns out it rained the moment people showed up and stopped just as everyone was going to leave.

This year I was hesitant to volunteer my house again for this exact reason, but after talking with my sister I agreed to host. What were the chances it would happen again? Well, good actually. Especially with all the rain we've received this year. At any rate, I crossed my fingers and watched the weather predictions all week. At first things looked ok, but as we got closer to the event date I realized we were probably going to get rained on.

I did not not want to set up my yard with chairs and tables because weather forecasts can change from moment to moment, but knew that it might be a totally wasted effort. In fact, as the hours approached the start of the party I thought we might have a couple hours that were dry. In reality, we had about a half hour. At first it drizzled and this is when I should have told Jesse "let's start grilling now in case it rains harder", but instead I said "let's wait until 3:00". 

By the time 3:00 rolled around and the grill was hot, it was pouring. I had earlier offered to move the grill to a more sheltered spot, but Jesse declined so it's partly his fault that he got absolutely soaking wet while grilling :) ... on a day that we were celebrating him and the other fathers in the family. Love you and appreciate you, babe (ps. he also did most of the cleaning for the party too - he rocks). 

There were a few less people this year so it didn't feel quite as cramped so there was that. People brought a lot of good food and it was fun to see everyone (I feel like I haven't seen many of them for awhile). 

Would love to know what they were talking about that my brother Chuck (in the blue on the couch) has that expression.

And the sun did come out shortly before everyone left.  A few adults wandered outside and the kids played in the playhouse. It was a big hit.

My dad with my sister, Judy

Baby John and dad

Back inside people were getting ready to go when someone noticed Riley's guitar and commented on it. Then this happened:

Wish I would have video taped this. It was hilarious and the kids loved it. It basically involved a lot of "rock-n-roll type jumping". My husband is totally a big kid at heart.

The next day Riley and I tried to let Jesse sleep in a little. While he was sleeping she finally got around to making her dad a card (or I finally remembered we never made one) and I wrapped up a one tusked, carved elephant I found at a garage sale for a buck.

AB... C, D, and E are on the back, of course.

We have a shelf that runs along the stairs to our basement and a while ago Jesse noted that he would love some carved elephants to go there. I've searched online for them, but most of what I was looking for was spendy so I just hadn't gotten anything yet... until I found this little guy. I wish I had a series of them, but guess I will just have to collect them over time.

Riley and I had also put together a video a few days prior. Please ignore the dumpster of garbage in the background. She was sitting calmly in that chair so I embraced the moment. It's a little long and she gets distracted multiple times, but it went about as well as I would expect for a three year old.

Once Jesse woke up, we presented him with his gifts. Of course,he wanted to know where I got the elephant so we could get more (sorry babe - I'll keep searching). We hung out a little and then headed off to the gym. Jesse had mentioned earlier in the week that he wanted to go on a bike ride so we worked that in by biking to the gym (need to do that more often).

The rest of the day was nice and mellow. Jesse wanted to go to Chang Mai Thai for lunch (delicious food and carved elephants to be envious of), we all took a nap in the afternoon, and Jesse got to end the night playing his new video game. I hope he knows how special we think he is.

And of course, the weather was gorgeous with only a spot of rain late in the day. Go figure.