Double grad party
A week after T's graduation from college, her mom held a party for her and her sister. And, technically, her brother (his birthday was Friday), but since he's rarely present at parties, it was more for the girls than him. This was also a family and friends party, so there were a number of NCC students there, plus a couple kids from CC's 8th grade graduating class. (Her class was so small that I think there were 8 kids total; the only other girl was actually the sole 7th grade student. Only boys--and their families--came to the party.) As it turned out, T is friends with some of the band kids, so I actually recognized a few of them, which was a little odd. Hey, all in the Cardinal family, I suppose.
In terms of our actual family members, naturally Aunt T was there, and Aunt D, Kevin, Leah, and the little guy were there, too. He is nearly two and a half and is just a happy little guy, always smiling (Kevin said, he puts on a good show!). My goddaughter and her husband were there, too. I got to hear more about why she wasn't at the graduation--she'd had a lump removed from her breast area a few days earlier, but the biopsy results aren't due back until tomorrow, so fingers crossed she's okay. She was coughing up blood due to a likely complication with the tube down her throat during the procedure, and she developed a rash due to a reaction to something. Fun! She's better now and was her old self...for good and bad...but it was good to see her. She'd also made a punch with three kinds of rum, making sure to label it "alcoholic" mainly so no one would feed it to the little guy, but I made sure not to drink it, either. Mom had a little and liked it but couldn't taste the alcohol. T's college friends were mostly girls, but the one guy who'd gotten there early enough to talk to the family a little before we retreated outside, he tried it too and liked it, even giving it a little stir to help mix the alcohol. He's the one that I've had prior contact with and was surprised to hear that T and I are related (he graduated as well and had played trumpet in the bands).
There were more people at this party than typical, so the house got pretty stuffy pretty fast. We left the kids inside and parked ourselves on the back patio, where there were three covered sections. This was good, because it rained much of the time. So long as you weren't by one of the gaps, you were okay. My cousin's husband had Alexa set up so that we could tell her what music to play, which worked pretty well and entertained mom and Aunt D for a while, until the husband had to leave and took his phone, AKA the Alexa controller, with him. Then Kevin managed to figure out how to get it through *his* phone, which worked fine up until he went to the bathroom; if the phone left the area, the music would halt. And then they left after a little while, though not before the little guy would attempt to talk to Alexa. He couldn't quite say it, but he'd stand in front of the main speaker and go, ah! Ah! He's aware of what's going on. I guess his parents have Alexa at home and had to disable her because he was messing around with it. Better, Alexa is close to my goddaughter's given name, so at one point when her mom was going, Alexa, *whatever*, my goddaughter started yelling at her through the window. Oops.
There was also a funny moment involving my aunt in California. She started a family group text with my dad, Aunt T, plus two of Aunt T's daughters (both my host cousin and her sister, my California cousin). My California aunt sent a greeting and wished everyone well, and dad replied, we're all at the party and it's raining; otherwise everything is fine. My California cousin went, who is the person from the 630 area code in the rain? My dad went, I'm you're uncle--I'll let you figure it out. Considering he is literally the only uncle left, she did get it and eventually replied as such. :P (Oh, right...California aunt is still married, but all the other brothers are gone. I was counting Aunt T's husband in that, too, but that wouldn't be the uncle in this case, that was her dad.)
My goddaughter had a thing at her birthday parties for a number of years where she'd end up with cake frosting on her face at some point. Her dad had left by the time we cracked open the cake, so she was the one to slice it and she ended up with quite a bit of frosting on the knife. She told her husband, for fifty cents I'll smear it on T's face! ...Really? That's it? Fifty cents? Anyway, her mom and I were like, let us get our cameras ready! I went to take a preliminary pic and...alas, my flash was on from when I'd just taken a picture of the whole cake, so that gave something away, seeing how I was facing the college kids, sitting at the nearby dining room table. Oops. Sorry, didn't mean to do that. The next thing we know, T is getting frosting face paint, and we explained to her friends that this is sort of a thing around here. T, however, said that was the first time she'd ever gotten her face frosted. Really? That's kind of impressive.
Eventually the college kids went outside, and I was able to have my goddaughter get her brother to say hi. He's somewhat okay around family, but people he doesn't know, no way. I did get to say happy birthday to him, and he went, my birthday was yesterday! I know that, but happy birthday regardless. He has a weird sense of humor so I made sure to get him a weird card. He was downstairs long enough that my parents and Aunt D were able to say hello to him, but then one of the college kids came out of the bathroom and he retreated upstairs. I wonder what will become of him. I know his mom had hoped that once he finished high school, he might enroll in a program at COD, but that didn't happen. From what I've seen, he's fairly high functioning, but socially he has issues. Given his penchant for video games, I wonder if it's possible for him to become a professional player. Hmm... Also, Leah and I had an amusing moment. His mom mentioned that he's 19 now, and Leah went, rhetorically, when did that happen? I went, yesterday. ...Well, it wasn't untrue! Heh.
All told, I think everyone had a good time. My parents haven't seen the kids in a while, except for the little guy's birthday party in January (and that was just SJ and CC--yeah, didn't see much of SJ yesterday for some reason), and dad brought my cousin's husband a bottle of homemade hooch, plus shot glasses. I forget who made the toast for the family, maybe my goddaughter, but nearly the whole family participated. I was paranoid that the college kids that were there might join in, but they did not. I just didn't like the thought of them drinking dad's hooch, though that may well have happened after we left, as by that point they'd moved outside. It was in the 60s, so while it was a little cool, it was pleasant.
We also found out that yes, they are driving T down to Arizona, in part because she wants her car. For holidays, she will make the 5-hour drive to California aunt's house, which I'm sure she'll love. Oh, speaking of which, we got something in the mail from California aunt, in one of those long, flat, sheet-sized envelopes. What, did she add you to her will? No--it was the brochure from her selling her house. We knew that was happening but it was a surprise to get everything, which included the layout and pictures. Since I've never been there, it was nice to see, actually. They haven't found another house yet because the housing market is so tight there, so they're moving to an apartment complex temporarily. The packet included a letter explaining their situation and their current address. They're slowly moving out of the house but they have to be out by the end of the month. California aunt and her husband want to be closer to their daughter's family, and given the traffic situation out there, being a few miles closer is helpful.
In terms of our actual family members, naturally Aunt T was there, and Aunt D, Kevin, Leah, and the little guy were there, too. He is nearly two and a half and is just a happy little guy, always smiling (Kevin said, he puts on a good show!). My goddaughter and her husband were there, too. I got to hear more about why she wasn't at the graduation--she'd had a lump removed from her breast area a few days earlier, but the biopsy results aren't due back until tomorrow, so fingers crossed she's okay. She was coughing up blood due to a likely complication with the tube down her throat during the procedure, and she developed a rash due to a reaction to something. Fun! She's better now and was her old self...for good and bad...but it was good to see her. She'd also made a punch with three kinds of rum, making sure to label it "alcoholic" mainly so no one would feed it to the little guy, but I made sure not to drink it, either. Mom had a little and liked it but couldn't taste the alcohol. T's college friends were mostly girls, but the one guy who'd gotten there early enough to talk to the family a little before we retreated outside, he tried it too and liked it, even giving it a little stir to help mix the alcohol. He's the one that I've had prior contact with and was surprised to hear that T and I are related (he graduated as well and had played trumpet in the bands).
There were more people at this party than typical, so the house got pretty stuffy pretty fast. We left the kids inside and parked ourselves on the back patio, where there were three covered sections. This was good, because it rained much of the time. So long as you weren't by one of the gaps, you were okay. My cousin's husband had Alexa set up so that we could tell her what music to play, which worked pretty well and entertained mom and Aunt D for a while, until the husband had to leave and took his phone, AKA the Alexa controller, with him. Then Kevin managed to figure out how to get it through *his* phone, which worked fine up until he went to the bathroom; if the phone left the area, the music would halt. And then they left after a little while, though not before the little guy would attempt to talk to Alexa. He couldn't quite say it, but he'd stand in front of the main speaker and go, ah! Ah! He's aware of what's going on. I guess his parents have Alexa at home and had to disable her because he was messing around with it. Better, Alexa is close to my goddaughter's given name, so at one point when her mom was going, Alexa, *whatever*, my goddaughter started yelling at her through the window. Oops.
There was also a funny moment involving my aunt in California. She started a family group text with my dad, Aunt T, plus two of Aunt T's daughters (both my host cousin and her sister, my California cousin). My California aunt sent a greeting and wished everyone well, and dad replied, we're all at the party and it's raining; otherwise everything is fine. My California cousin went, who is the person from the 630 area code in the rain? My dad went, I'm you're uncle--I'll let you figure it out. Considering he is literally the only uncle left, she did get it and eventually replied as such. :P (Oh, right...California aunt is still married, but all the other brothers are gone. I was counting Aunt T's husband in that, too, but that wouldn't be the uncle in this case, that was her dad.)
My goddaughter had a thing at her birthday parties for a number of years where she'd end up with cake frosting on her face at some point. Her dad had left by the time we cracked open the cake, so she was the one to slice it and she ended up with quite a bit of frosting on the knife. She told her husband, for fifty cents I'll smear it on T's face! ...Really? That's it? Fifty cents? Anyway, her mom and I were like, let us get our cameras ready! I went to take a preliminary pic and...alas, my flash was on from when I'd just taken a picture of the whole cake, so that gave something away, seeing how I was facing the college kids, sitting at the nearby dining room table. Oops. Sorry, didn't mean to do that. The next thing we know, T is getting frosting face paint, and we explained to her friends that this is sort of a thing around here. T, however, said that was the first time she'd ever gotten her face frosted. Really? That's kind of impressive.
Eventually the college kids went outside, and I was able to have my goddaughter get her brother to say hi. He's somewhat okay around family, but people he doesn't know, no way. I did get to say happy birthday to him, and he went, my birthday was yesterday! I know that, but happy birthday regardless. He has a weird sense of humor so I made sure to get him a weird card. He was downstairs long enough that my parents and Aunt D were able to say hello to him, but then one of the college kids came out of the bathroom and he retreated upstairs. I wonder what will become of him. I know his mom had hoped that once he finished high school, he might enroll in a program at COD, but that didn't happen. From what I've seen, he's fairly high functioning, but socially he has issues. Given his penchant for video games, I wonder if it's possible for him to become a professional player. Hmm... Also, Leah and I had an amusing moment. His mom mentioned that he's 19 now, and Leah went, rhetorically, when did that happen? I went, yesterday. ...Well, it wasn't untrue! Heh.
All told, I think everyone had a good time. My parents haven't seen the kids in a while, except for the little guy's birthday party in January (and that was just SJ and CC--yeah, didn't see much of SJ yesterday for some reason), and dad brought my cousin's husband a bottle of homemade hooch, plus shot glasses. I forget who made the toast for the family, maybe my goddaughter, but nearly the whole family participated. I was paranoid that the college kids that were there might join in, but they did not. I just didn't like the thought of them drinking dad's hooch, though that may well have happened after we left, as by that point they'd moved outside. It was in the 60s, so while it was a little cool, it was pleasant.
We also found out that yes, they are driving T down to Arizona, in part because she wants her car. For holidays, she will make the 5-hour drive to California aunt's house, which I'm sure she'll love. Oh, speaking of which, we got something in the mail from California aunt, in one of those long, flat, sheet-sized envelopes. What, did she add you to her will? No--it was the brochure from her selling her house. We knew that was happening but it was a surprise to get everything, which included the layout and pictures. Since I've never been there, it was nice to see, actually. They haven't found another house yet because the housing market is so tight there, so they're moving to an apartment complex temporarily. The packet included a letter explaining their situation and their current address. They're slowly moving out of the house but they have to be out by the end of the month. California aunt and her husband want to be closer to their daughter's family, and given the traffic situation out there, being a few miles closer is helpful.