When talking about the weekend, I barely know where to start. :P A little family time when I first arrived at my mom's was followed by a whirlwind of activity. We nipped out to shop for a bit, including picking up some humourous cards for my brother, Mark (whose b-day is today, 6/22! ^_^) & a couple of boxes of brownies from the bakery in lieu of a b-day cake, which might've been a bit heavy for a summer BBQ.
Mark's gotten quite a bit of work done on the house & yard. There's also a tire swing now, & a little pool for the kids. We all chatted & got to look around & see what's changed since our last visit, then played with the boys a bit, & gave Mark some goodies (my mom got some, too - it was kind of a joint party, since her b-day was earlier this month). Then he fired up the grill & we had a nice lunch, followed by birthday brownies (with candles & singing)!
The rest of the day involved other folks Mark knows - basically, friends, neighbours, & a couple of Danielle's relatives - popping in & out to enjoy the festivities (she, unfortunately, had to work). There was lots of tire-swinging & water action, the latter including Mark throwing Bridget (Mattie's girlfriend) into the pool! She & Mattie ganged up on him & (eventually) got revenge, LOL. XD
I took LOTS of shots & video! I've just finished converting all the videos (I shrank all the photos last night ~ these things always come out so huge with this kind of camera!) & sending them to Mark. Here is a small sampling. :)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/japanesedream/markparty61910/SDC11154.jpgTire swing fun - Mattie helping Church, Trey, & Anthony figure out how they can all fit on there at once
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/japanesedream/markparty61910/SDC11159.jpgThe gang's all here - my mom, Bridget, Mattie, & Mark
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/japanesedream/markparty61910/SDC11171.jpgCute couple - Mattie & Bridget
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/japanesedream/markparty61910/SDC11190.jpgShenanigans - Johnathan dunks Anthony in the pool (Mattie lends a hand, literally; you can only see his arm)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/japanesedream/markparty61910/SDC11163.jpgCome on in, the water's fine - Church, Trey, & Anthony go for a swim
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/japanesedream/markparty61910/SDC11220.jpgChillin' - Johnathan watches Mark & his friend, Ken (who came with his daughters), as Anthony dives into a flavoured-ice cup...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/japanesedream/markparty61910/SDC11221.jpg...with adorable results!
As you can see it a bit in the second-to-last photo, above, my nephew has this green hooded towel, which I think makes him look like one of the Ugly Dolls (
http://designsolutionstore.com/images/ugly_doll/ugly_group.jpg). We all agreed he was like something out of
Where The Wild Things Are, walking around with it on, so we called him The Little Troll. I then took it upon my insane & artistic self to create The Troll Pictorial:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/japanesedream/markparty61910/SDC11202.jpgThe Little Troll in his native forest
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/japanesedream/markparty61910/SDC11205.jpgThe Little Troll nervously watches a group of humans
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/japanesedream/markparty61910/SDC11209.jpgThe Little Troll is befriended by the children & is invited to play
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/japanesedream/markparty61910/SDC11224.jpgThe Little Troll finds love among human adults & is adopted
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/japanesedream/markparty61910/SDC11230.jpgThe Little Troll, enraptured by television
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/japanesedream/markparty61910/SDC11232.jpgThe Little Troll, all tuckered out from frolicking amongst his new people
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/japanesedream/markparty61910/SDC11238.jpgThe Little Troll, awake in the evening, spies some ladybugs in the back yard
Back to my mom's in the evening, though the twins & Bridget stayed over & came home on Sunday. My mom & I (or, at least, I) dozed off for a bit during the "House" marathon, then watched that re-re-make of "Night of the Living Dead" with Sid Haig (I mentioned it in my previous entry -
http://japanesedream.livejournal.com/375820.html). Of course, we weren't tired after that, so we were up until about 4 am talking & watching tv. :P
Sunday, we did some more shopping; my mom picked up an outfit at a very good price. She'd already given me 2 skirts on Sat., so I didn't need to buy anything - I was gonna get some blackout curtains for the living room, but they don't seem to make curtains of any kind for large bay/picture windows anymore; you have to buy them 1 panel at a time, & it might take 5 or 6 to do a window like mine! XP
Can't remember if Johnathan showed me those videos (mentioned in my previous entry) on Sat. or Sun.; maybe a couple each day. XD I still had Diru's "Hageshisa..." video on my camera, & showed him that. Naturally, he liked it, but I was showing Bridget, too (on Sat., before we left for Mark's), & she said it sounded pretty good. ^_^
In any case, after we got back from shopping, we saw my mom's neighbour's brother, who chats with my mom when he's in town (he's a cross-country truck driver), & talked to him for a bit. Then we went in & had some lunch. I always bring a couple of DVD options for us to look at, so they watched Tetsuo: The Iron Man (
http://www.mandiapple.com/snowblood/tetsuo.htm). They enjoyed it. They certainly couldn't say they've ever seen a film like it before! XD
Sadly, it was soon time to pack up & hit the road. What sucked was that, as soon as I pulled in my driveway, I turned to get one of my bags off the floor & WHAM!! I threw out part of my lower back!! XP It's better now than it was, but is still a little sore. I might go to chiro on Friday after work, 'cuz I want to be in good shape for the company picnic on Saturday!!
In other news...MONSTER's back on! :D I'll be happy to finally see how the story ends.
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