it's official, my family is insane

i spent the weekend with the family, minus one of my sisters who could not make it.
it was block party time on daisy street.
allow me to explain.
once a year, the block that my parents live on throw a "block party". as our house is located in the middle of the block, the majority of the party action takes place on our drive way.
my parents and a core group of neighbors have been doing this for something like 17 years.
as the kids of the neighborhood have gotten older, the craziness seems to mulitply.
so they get a keg of beer and we still end up making a $150 alcohol run so i can make margarita's, long islands, tom collins and of course, red-headed sluts. That is of course the shot, not my $19.99 two day course...
then my mother turns on the rap cd's and the dancing starts.
i am not making this up. friends of kids on the block come with them and are in shock and awe for a good twenty mintues watching my mother's rendention of "back that ass up" while my father oogles her. and she knows the words.
and they say the american family is dead.
hah.
come on down to daisy street and we can prove otherwise.
as my neighbor said, and this is one of the kids i used to babysit, with tom collins in hand, "how many people do you know that would bring friends home to drink with their parents on the drive way?"
this steven, is a good point.
not many.


it was also my brothers triumphant return from basic training. he gets a few weeks off before shiping off to germany in preparation for iraq.
looks good. kid is a solid as they come. his waist is smaller than mine, which is not that impressive of a stat, but still. they beat some respect into him, which i think he needed and my father got almost teary-eyed telling us all about how proud of him he is, etc. patrick is one of those kids that everyone deemed a "troublemaker" so completing something like this and doing well is sorta like a big "i told you so". he will do great. i have total confidence in him. i can honestly say i am none too excitied about the iraq thing, but this is the choice he made. i just hope our beloved president pulls his head out of his ass before patrick ships out.
not too likely, but worth throwing it out there.

also spent some time with my sister courtney while i was there. hung out in the big city of KC and well, the end result was very similar to a night in Des Moines, had a few beers, got hit on by creepy 50 year olds and a midget or two and that was a wrap.
had a great time with the girls though. as long as we continue to make ourselves laugh, we will never have a bad time. plus the bartenders at the last bar we went to, loved us. we were highly entertaining enough for them to buy a few shots and a drink or two. always a good way to end a night.
and so wraps the big weekend at home.
clear your calendars for this time next year, the planning sessions for the next party are already scheduled. i will keep you posted as to when.