Laborious Weekend

My weekends of late have been full of activities, especially involving family.  This weekend was no exception, though the family was not always my own.

On Saturday, I went with Leah to her mom’s place where I met Leah’s older sister Briana and her four kids.  After a bite to eat (including cookies I brought), we all went to a boardwalk at Havre de Grace.  It was a beautiful day and it was great being so close to the water.  After our walk, we spent some time at the local park and the kids had a good time running around and playing (as did Leah’s mom, Debbie).

Since Leah worked in the evening at her part-time job, we parted ways and I headed home.  After running a few errands, I went to Ian’s place to visit with him, Sherlin, and their kids.  They had just gotten back from the Philadelphia Temple open house and the kids were getting their wiggles out.  I worked in the kitchen with Sherlin, helping her bake a cake for the next day—we ended up having a problem with getting the first layer out, but I knew of a technique to help with that, so the next three layers came out without any problem.  I hung around until much later than I planned, but it worked out because I got to see Margot, Bryan, and their kids as soon as they arrived (which was later than they planned).

The next day, after church, Leah came with me to the big birthday bash at Ian’s, which had as guests Margot’s clan and a friend of Sherlin who brought her children as well.  It was actually Ian’s birthday, but we also celebrated Aeva’s and Phoebe’s birthdays.  In fact, the cake that I helped with the day before was designed to be for all three of them: the flavor was Black Forest (for Ian) and the decorations were a combination of princess (for Phoebe) and superheroes (for Avea) themes.  As crazy as that sounds, the craziest part was the fact that we crammed eight adults and a dozen kids into the kitchen for dinner, though it took three tables of various sizes.  Sherlin made dinner, which was fantastic, as always.

My presents to both Aeva and Phoebe were action figures of girl superheroes: Batgirl for Aeva and Supergirl for Phoebe (which went well with Clara’s Wonder Woman figure that I bought her previously).  For Ian, I gave him the unthinkable, at least for him: a book.  I got him The Last Girlfriend on Earth: And Other Love Stories by Simon Rich.  It’s a collection of farcical short stories that I think he’ll enjoy, if he ever actually reads it.

All of this fun over two short days wore me out and I ended up just staying for Labor Day.  I’m happy that I have people in my life for whom I’m willing to exhaust myself.