Family baptism
This happened two weeks ago now, but I want to make sure I write it up.
My parents got an invite from one of my cousins to attend his daughter's baptism. Pulling out the Family Flow Chart, these are my cousins from Branch 2, Child A (my great-aunt's daughter), each of whom has two kids apiece, a boy and a girl. You will notice that as of last March, my male cousin had a daughter on the way; she was born last July. Well, she's now been baptized, and we asked if I could go instead of my dad, so mom and I went. We checked with grandma; she did not get an invite. We thought that was odd but oh well; she was okay with not going.
Mom begged off of going to the actual ceremony. She claimed she had too much to do; really, it was the day of the series finale of Mad Men and she had a very important marathon to watch. I understand it was quite the baptism, too, as there were six children. I think the most I've seen is four, and half of those kids were my cousin's twins. We still left an hour and a half before the luncheon was to start at a sports bar, and got to the area in about an hour. With time to kill, we ended up at Bed Bath & Beyond, which had a World Market inside of it. The store was huge. We tried not to sample too much--I was stunned a BB&B had food--but when I saw something flavored with rosemary, I had to; Rose Mary was my great-aunt, and the great-grandmother of the honoree. It's fate, I tell you.
We still went about 10 minutes early to the restaurant, in order to freshen up, and mom wondered if any of the relatives were here yet. Just then my middle cousin came into the bathroom with her daughter. Guess so! So when we made it to the party room, we ended up being the last ones there. Oh. Oops. But it was fine. Also, it turned out that we were the *only* non-immediate family there, at least on our side. Wow, guess we should be glad any of us got an invitation. I really didn't recognize most of the people there, save for my cousin's wife, mother, and one of her sisters. There were some long tables set up along the far sides of the room, and two round tables in the middle. They called it the kiddie table, but it's where mom's cousin and her two daughters were, along with a passel of kids--my older girl cousin's twins, my younger girl cousin's two kids, plus my male cousin's son. My male cousin, his wife, and their baby daughter (the honoree) were at a different table. Probably the only reason their son was with us was because he doesn't see his cousins much. They live kind of far out, in the far northwest suburbs, whereas my female cousins lived close to the restaurant. The younger female cousin lives with her mom, and I wouldn't doubt that the twins come over and visit a lot, so they're all used to hanging around together.
I felt bad for my younger female cousin; she ended up the only adult on her side of the table. When mom and I showed up, mom's cousin made everyone scootch over so my mom could be next to her, and I could be next to the older girl cousin. That led to a funny moment, as she said to her son, you know how X and Y are your cousins? Well, this is *my* cousin! And then her mom pointed to my mom and went, and this is *my* cousin! Cousins all around! That was kind of fun.
We found out that the boy twin likes to go to the bathroom when he's bored; he asked to go probably a half-dozen times. We found out he can go in the stall by himself, but woe to the next person to go in there. I was at one point. I appreciated the warning. Also, behind our table was a fireplace with a grate on it. Naturally, kids being curious, the twins had to put their faces against it and look in. When the girl twin did it, she pressed so lightly against it that she merely looked like she'd gotten ashes on Ash Wednesday, and we couldn't quite figure out what had happened. However, when her brother did it, he really mashed his face against it and it was hilarious, especially when he insisted he did nothing. Of course you didn't. Eventually his uncle took a picture of him and showed him; the look on his face was priceless--that's what I look like?! That's right.
It being a sports bar, the Hawks game was on. I think that was game 1 of the series that just ended, which the Hawks lost. I think they scored only one goal that game, and it was obvious when that happened; the whole restaurant went up in a big cheer. That was interesting. Also, my younger girl cousin's son, who is the oldest of his set of cousins, apparently is a big Hawks fan, so he was watching the game intently for a while. I think he said his favorite player is Andrew Shaw, though it might have been Brandon Saad. I got a picture of him staring up at the screen over the fireplace.
As the party wound down, the kids were getting restless, especially since they had not only cake, but also ice cream sundaes. Their kids' meals came with them. Oh, the meals. There was so much trading of food it was incredible, but little went to waste. One kid had pasta and insisted on putting something red, like ketchup, all over it, then didn't like it; she got one of her cousin's corn dogs. And the kid who gave up a corn dog ended up liking my mother's fish, so he ate that, and someone else got someone's plain pasta, and I just sat there eating my club sandwich. Oh, and someone got a club sandwich, too; our plates came with four of them total, and they were pretty big. I took one of mine home. Somehow I ate two pieces of cake. They were small, but still, I didn't need it. I totally gained a few pounds that day, but then as that week went on I was so busy that I lost six pounds. Phew. I will say we had a moment of levity at the end. As people were leaving, some of the remaining kids were wandering out into the restaurant, but close to the doors into the party room. At one point they wandered a little farther, until somebody came in and said, the kids are at the bar. Heh. Guess they had a rough day! That must be the sign to go home.
As mom and I were far enough east, she wanted to go past Dave and Buster's. We hadn't yet been there by that point, and we'd initially planned to go that week, but I was so busy that we put it off until the following week. Still, mom was able to see where to go, and what the building looked like, and that was helpful to her. Her Red Hat friends ended up going yesterday and seemed to have a decent time. Mom still prefers Vegas, and I don't think she'll go back, but at least she's done it once.
My parents got an invite from one of my cousins to attend his daughter's baptism. Pulling out the Family Flow Chart, these are my cousins from Branch 2, Child A (my great-aunt's daughter), each of whom has two kids apiece, a boy and a girl. You will notice that as of last March, my male cousin had a daughter on the way; she was born last July. Well, she's now been baptized, and we asked if I could go instead of my dad, so mom and I went. We checked with grandma; she did not get an invite. We thought that was odd but oh well; she was okay with not going.
Mom begged off of going to the actual ceremony. She claimed she had too much to do; really, it was the day of the series finale of Mad Men and she had a very important marathon to watch. I understand it was quite the baptism, too, as there were six children. I think the most I've seen is four, and half of those kids were my cousin's twins. We still left an hour and a half before the luncheon was to start at a sports bar, and got to the area in about an hour. With time to kill, we ended up at Bed Bath & Beyond, which had a World Market inside of it. The store was huge. We tried not to sample too much--I was stunned a BB&B had food--but when I saw something flavored with rosemary, I had to; Rose Mary was my great-aunt, and the great-grandmother of the honoree. It's fate, I tell you.
We still went about 10 minutes early to the restaurant, in order to freshen up, and mom wondered if any of the relatives were here yet. Just then my middle cousin came into the bathroom with her daughter. Guess so! So when we made it to the party room, we ended up being the last ones there. Oh. Oops. But it was fine. Also, it turned out that we were the *only* non-immediate family there, at least on our side. Wow, guess we should be glad any of us got an invitation. I really didn't recognize most of the people there, save for my cousin's wife, mother, and one of her sisters. There were some long tables set up along the far sides of the room, and two round tables in the middle. They called it the kiddie table, but it's where mom's cousin and her two daughters were, along with a passel of kids--my older girl cousin's twins, my younger girl cousin's two kids, plus my male cousin's son. My male cousin, his wife, and their baby daughter (the honoree) were at a different table. Probably the only reason their son was with us was because he doesn't see his cousins much. They live kind of far out, in the far northwest suburbs, whereas my female cousins lived close to the restaurant. The younger female cousin lives with her mom, and I wouldn't doubt that the twins come over and visit a lot, so they're all used to hanging around together.
I felt bad for my younger female cousin; she ended up the only adult on her side of the table. When mom and I showed up, mom's cousin made everyone scootch over so my mom could be next to her, and I could be next to the older girl cousin. That led to a funny moment, as she said to her son, you know how X and Y are your cousins? Well, this is *my* cousin! And then her mom pointed to my mom and went, and this is *my* cousin! Cousins all around! That was kind of fun.
We found out that the boy twin likes to go to the bathroom when he's bored; he asked to go probably a half-dozen times. We found out he can go in the stall by himself, but woe to the next person to go in there. I was at one point. I appreciated the warning. Also, behind our table was a fireplace with a grate on it. Naturally, kids being curious, the twins had to put their faces against it and look in. When the girl twin did it, she pressed so lightly against it that she merely looked like she'd gotten ashes on Ash Wednesday, and we couldn't quite figure out what had happened. However, when her brother did it, he really mashed his face against it and it was hilarious, especially when he insisted he did nothing. Of course you didn't. Eventually his uncle took a picture of him and showed him; the look on his face was priceless--that's what I look like?! That's right.
It being a sports bar, the Hawks game was on. I think that was game 1 of the series that just ended, which the Hawks lost. I think they scored only one goal that game, and it was obvious when that happened; the whole restaurant went up in a big cheer. That was interesting. Also, my younger girl cousin's son, who is the oldest of his set of cousins, apparently is a big Hawks fan, so he was watching the game intently for a while. I think he said his favorite player is Andrew Shaw, though it might have been Brandon Saad. I got a picture of him staring up at the screen over the fireplace.
As the party wound down, the kids were getting restless, especially since they had not only cake, but also ice cream sundaes. Their kids' meals came with them. Oh, the meals. There was so much trading of food it was incredible, but little went to waste. One kid had pasta and insisted on putting something red, like ketchup, all over it, then didn't like it; she got one of her cousin's corn dogs. And the kid who gave up a corn dog ended up liking my mother's fish, so he ate that, and someone else got someone's plain pasta, and I just sat there eating my club sandwich. Oh, and someone got a club sandwich, too; our plates came with four of them total, and they were pretty big. I took one of mine home. Somehow I ate two pieces of cake. They were small, but still, I didn't need it. I totally gained a few pounds that day, but then as that week went on I was so busy that I lost six pounds. Phew. I will say we had a moment of levity at the end. As people were leaving, some of the remaining kids were wandering out into the restaurant, but close to the doors into the party room. At one point they wandered a little farther, until somebody came in and said, the kids are at the bar. Heh. Guess they had a rough day! That must be the sign to go home.
As mom and I were far enough east, she wanted to go past Dave and Buster's. We hadn't yet been there by that point, and we'd initially planned to go that week, but I was so busy that we put it off until the following week. Still, mom was able to see where to go, and what the building looked like, and that was helpful to her. Her Red Hat friends ended up going yesterday and seemed to have a decent time. Mom still prefers Vegas, and I don't think she'll go back, but at least she's done it once.