St. Patrick's Day 2012

Hi folks,

St. Patrick's Day is a huge deal in this house.  We don't get excited about much around here, but when March 17th rolls around, considered us 'pumped.'

This year was no different.  Observe:

Kris had a few Irish social engagements via the Order of Extraordinary Moms, and volunteered to Irish-up the playdates. . . for whatever reason substituting whiskey with sugar cookies.  Who knows.

(We ate the hell out of these, by the way. . .)

SUGAR!!!

At Eagle Park, with Alayna's beau, Derrick

No idea what she's holding here. . .

More sugar.

St. Patrick's Day fell on a Saturday this year, which was awesome 'cause we got to celebrate it the way it should be celebrated - from sun-up to sun-down (I despise working on St. Pat's).  Basically this entails us serving breakfast with green food coloring, Yours Truly having a morning cocktail, and jammin' out to some Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem while preparing for our departure to Melbourne. . .

Drinking some 'Irish' juice (no booze, don't worry) and some not-so-Irish, store-brand Fruit Loops.

Arts and crafts. . .

Breakfast of Champions: toasted green-egg, ham, and cheese sandwich, and a Jameson tonic.

"Slainté!"

The Simpsons celebrate St. Patrick's Day - the 'prohibition' episode.  One of my personal favs. . . .

Dollin' up the tax deductions. . .

Weapon of choice.

This year, as we've done for the previous three, we opted to head out to Melbourne for their big St. Patrick's day blowout.  Once again, the Voigts were coming along with us. . . but this year, Clint was making the trip out as well.

We ended up leaving Orlando around 10:00am, which put us into Melbourne a little past 11am. . .  just late enough to make parking a huge pain in the ass.  The St. Patrick's Day Parade the City of Melbourne puts on kicks off at 11am, and usually we're able to find an easy parking space in a nearby bank parking lot.  This year, unfortunately, we weren't so lucky - everything was packed by the time we got there.

After a failed attempt at finding a spot in a nearby parking structure, we were forced to split up - Adam, Clint and I took the girls and attempted to catch the parade while Kris and Lindsey tried to scrounge up a parking space. . .

. . . they ended up finding a spot at this church, some four days walk from Meg O'Malley's, where the festivities were centered.

This year's turnout was WAY busier than usual - getting close to the parade route was more or less impossible.  The kids weren't a huge fan of the noise anyway, though. . . 

The Food Tent - we pounced on this early this year, as the line fills up fast and then you're stuck boozin' on an empty stomach in the sun.  Not so awesome.

We were lucky enough to secure a table under the tent, too - which is unheard of, and only happened because we missed the damn parade.  So I guess that's the silver lining to our morning screw-up. . . 

KRIS HUNGRY!!!

My lunch? A 32oz Guinness and crackers.  Bam.

Family Portraits, © Cannonball

Meg O'Malley's Irish Fest '12 - WAY more crowded than we've ever seen it. . .

Old people galore. . .

This year Meg O'Malley's brought back the bounce houses, which was awesome 'cause it gave the Cannonball something to do and kept her from getting into mischief. . .

Pipin'

This was the closest thing we got to a family portrait this year.  Go figure.

The Voigts

By the late afternoon, the girls were pretty much funned-out.  The sun and the crowds and the boredom had more or less worn their patience razor-thin, and they were not having any more of it.  We had packed tons of books, toys, snacks, etc. for them, but they just wanted to run around and throw themselves into certain peril. . . which, in a parking lot full of sweaty drunks, isn't something a hobbit-sized person should do.  The alternative to this, of course, was to hold them.  More often than not, against their will.

I'm sure you can imagine how much fun it was trying to enjoy a beer while holding a writhing toddler - kinda kills the whole 'festive' thing.

Anyway, after not being able to put one/both of them down over the course of two or three hours, we were ready to leave ourselves.  After walking the two-dozen blocks back to the van, our party posse swung by a local McDonald's for a healthy dinner and much-needed bathroom breaks.  The kids got their grease-and-sugar fix, and we got a moment to breathe. . .

McSharing McNuggets

After McDonald's, a few of us decided to seize a siesta on the way back to Orlando.  ¡Es muy bueno!

In conclusion, all in all, this was definitely the crappiest St. Pat's we've celebrated over the last three years.  We showed up late and missed the parade, parking sucked, Melbourne was packed, the kids were whining all day, and we missed most of our traditional photo ops (ex. the Leprechaun and the Band Leader we always have our pictures taken with, the photo booth family shot, etc. etc.).

And you know how much I love my pictures.

Next year we're probably not making the drive out to Melbourne.  Screw it.  It was fine while the kids were younger, and they didn't mind hanging out in a stroller, but now that they're getting older keeping them entertained while we booze it up is getting ridiculous.

Apparently there's an Irish pub right next door to the Voigts' house that holds some shindig for St. Patrick's Day - we'll probably just hit that up instead.

Sweet Jesus, do I miss the Doherty.

- Brian