My Busy Weekend, or Poor Bambi’s Mother

We haven’t had a weekend like this in a while. Tons of things to do and very little time to do them.

Friday night was Harry’s 5^th Birthday Party – Kids Version. It was at a place in Haverhill called Jump on In. Think inflatable carnival attractions: Moonwalks, slides, various bouncing style events. Now that you know what the place looks like, fill it to the brim with kids up to about the age of 7 and let them run wild. It was very cool. The party started at 6:00 so I was late. I got there a few minutes after seven. That meant I missed Jen on one of the big inflatable slides. I miss all the cool things. Dinner was pizza and a very good Spongebob birthday cake. Harry looked like he was happy enough to explode.

Unfortunately the weather was terrible that night and the news was warning us (BE AFRAID!) that power outages were a possibility. The kid’s father’s house has a generator and a wood stove so it was decided that the kids should stay there that night instead of Jen’s. The compromise was that they would come over early Saturday morning so they could hang out with us before going to their piano lesson. Bellana wanted to play Guitar Hero, so the joint was rocking all morning. She gets frustrated when she plays because it’s a little difficult for her. She started feeling a little better once we pointed out that her score gets significantly better each time she plays. Once she realized that she relaxed a little and just started (simulated) rockin’. I suck at that game though. I keep trying to play the actual guitar part instead of what the game tells me to play and I end up screwing things up royally. I also got my ass kicked in a cutthroat game of Balloon Lagoon against Harry and Jen. Harry was awesome, but Jen was out of control! I do deserve a little bit of bragging rights though as I was the only one to get the frogs to flip into the… the thing the frogs flip into. Granted I was the only one to land on that part of the game, but still… brag when you can, right?

The second major event of the day was meeting up with Mike the Wisconsin Bass Player and Father to Cecilia who was home to go to a super bowl party. We did the obligatory trip to the Border Cafe (albeit the one in Burlington instead of the usual Cambridge). Joining us this time were Larry and Nawal, Lisa, and Bernie. Lisa had a major operation on her hip last year and hasn’t been getting out much lately so it was very nice that she made it. Bernie is a friend of hers who has been a huge help to her during her long recovery. We spent some time reminiscing about the same thing that always gets reminisced about when Mike and Larry and I are together: Bachelor parties. One of these days we’re going to skip the Border Run and have the reunion visit at, shall we say, a less reputable establishment… and Jen and Nawal said they’d go! How cool is that? Uber Cool!

Here are a few Border pictures…

Lisa on her crutches

Larry, Nawal, and Mike.

Jen, Lisa, and Bernie.

Lisa and Bernie

Next stop was Game Night at the Lowell Devils. This was an important event because my sister and her husband Ken used it as an opportunity to let all of the game night people know that they are going to have a baby. My big sister is pregnant… which means my brother and I get to fight over who gets Favorite Uncle Status. I hope the baby has red hair. That way I’ll be guaranteed Favorite Uncle Status just by that alone. I’ve been sending major red head vibes to the baby every time I see my sister. Mike came along for the game but Larry and Nawal and Lisa and Bernie passed. Lisa and Ken’s announcement was the big topic of discussion, as was Jamie and Micheal’s wedding this summer. Fortunately the game was pretty good. I think it was the team’s first game back after the all star break and they had a bit of life to them. Unfortunately they managed to blow the lead in the final minutes and lose in overtime. I think they are winless in their last 8 or so… again.

Here are some pictures from the Game:

Jamie, Carolyn, Martha, and Mary.

Ken and John, and Mike and Jen… looking sexy in my old Lock Monsters game jersey.

The Lowell Devils.

Jamie, Mary, and Martha.

Chuck-a-Puck Part I.  You can sort of see the back of Carolyn and Jamie’s heads here.  Sadly this didn’t come out nearly as cool as I had hoped.

Chuck-a-Puck Part II.  John in the act of throwing.  This was a little more like it.

The very proud parents to be,  (please let it be a red head!) Ken and Lisa.

After the game Jen and I headed back to Salem with Mike following behind. The plan was to watch Clerks II as Mike, who is totally a Kevin Smith fan, had not seen it yet. (I’m disgusted and repulsed but I can’t look away) As we were driving up River Road in Andover on our way to route 93, a pair of deer ran out across the road in front of us. That is so cool. I love brushes with wildlife in my little corner of the Merrimack Valley. At least it started off being cool… then it got bad… real bad. Just before I reached the spot in the road that the deer had dashed across, a third (probably slightly less intelligent) deer ran out in front of me! I slammed on my breaks and watched in horror as the poor doe got closer and closer. She didn’t have the cliched “deer in the headlights” look, she never stopped running, she just didn’t have enough time to get out from in front of my car. Just before I got the car to a full stop I hit her. Bumped her is probably more accurate a term, but from my point of view I hit her. She was flung into the other lane and skidded down the pavement on her side. I wanted to die. I had just hit Bambi’s mother! I was the lowest form of low! Then the fates decided to grant me a reprieve as the doe got up on her feet, looked back at me briefly as if to say, “You asshole, you just hit me! What the fuck is wrong with you?!” and then ran off into the woods again. I pulled over and checked my car. There was no damage. I was almost stopped when I hit her and really only knocked her over. She’s probably got some nasty cuts on her side from where she slid on the pavement, but otherwise she’s probably fine. I still feel really bad about it though. I’m not one of those people who enjoys hurting animals. I hope Bambi’s mother is all right.

Sunday was a little difficult for those of us who follow sports in New England. The plan was to make a batch of jambalaya and sit down and watch the Patriots complete their perfect season with a super bowl win. I was trying to be cautiously optimistic. Unfortunately the jambalaya came out too soupy. The rice failed to absorb all the water, which means the recipe either called for too much water or not enough rice. It was Emeril’s recipe. Hey Emeril, I’m going to kick your ass up a notch. BAM! Sorry, I’m still a little distraught over the whole thing. So we sacrificed a pretzel to the football gods and sat down to watch the game. Seems the football gods don’t go for the Greek style sacrifices and the Patriots lost the friggin superbowl and the friggin perfect season in the final friggin minute. I’m not friggin bitter though. I’m not even a real football fan. I just let myself get sucked up in the whole perfect season hoopla and now I’m upset about a team I don’t generally follow losing a game I don’t even like. It’s all Emeril’s fault, that jerk. I don’t know how, but it is.

Here are a couple of pictures of Jen cooking the jambalaya before Emeril screwed us over.  That prick.

And here’s a couple of pictures of Jen I took at the 99 in Tewksbury during lunch on Saturday. Notice how incredibly cool her iPhone is.

That’s all I’ve got for you today. Go home!