Cannonball One

hey folks...

we decided to throw the kid a birthday party a few days early this year in order to coincide with a saturday and kris' family flying in to town. this fiasco ended up costing us way more than we would've liked, but it was all worth it in the end.

we opted for a luau-themed party, as we couldn't really bring ourselves to throw the kid a standard, pink-and-princess shin-dig (which is the standard for infant chicks), and, being only twelve months old, alayna really doesn't have any particular interests or hobbies (besides crawling towards our flatscreen and smacking the crap out of it with her grubby, snack-ridden hands).

from the get-go, our plan was to have people over for a grill-out by our complex's pool, and then later transport everyone back to our place for cake and cocktails. we weren't sure if drinks were cool or not in public property, but we had a four gallon concoction of mai tais (crafted by yours truly) prepared and ready to go back at the house. the pool-side lunch went over well enough for what it was - a bunch of people shielding meat with paper plates and shooing away flies while others swam in a pool.

we either ended up buying too much food or else everybody who showed up were in 'polite' mode. consequently, we plan eating leftovers for the next month or so.

kris had prepared two cakes for the occassion, which was truly a baptism by fire for her, as she had never before made a cake and had no idea what she was doing. the giant sheet cake (pictured) turned out decent enough, and the cannonball's personal cake (fashioned after a grand piano, as the kid does enjoy the jams) turned out really well. you can see other pictures at my dad's picture site here.

not that it mattered to alayna, who only wanted to smack her hands in it, and didn't care about the baked item's decorative qualities in the slightest.

my dad ended up making it down and swung in for a surprise appearance that morning, so he was able to enjoy the kid's first birthday as well as kris' mom, sister, and the nephew/niece combo. it was a loud, crowded, confusing day with way too much crap going on to focus in on one thing in particular, and i, for one, was glad to see it over and done with. by my own rationale, i think i'm over and done with big kid parties until the kid turns 16.

then all i have to do is buy some junked-up used car and a card.

now, if you'll excuse me, i have about two and a half gallons of mai tai to see to...

cheers,

- brian

'Preperations,' or 'the Great Hawaiian Shirt Quest'

hi players.

on june 13th, we're throwing a laua (or however the hell you spell it) party. you know... big, fat sunburnt guys in hawaiian shirts and skanky native girls in coconut bras. one of those parties. its for the kid's one-year birthday. you're all invited (i'm making mai tais if you're down with rum.)

anyway...

in preparation of our kid's birthday laua, kris and i took stock of our hawaiian wardrobes and realized they were somewhat lacking. what followed was an epic quest across orlando - back and forth, back and forth - in order to find yours truly the ultimate hawaiian shirt. our journey lasted about three hours, and just about every middle-of-the-road retailer - kohl's, jc penney's, target, your mom's, etc. - was frequented. i picked up a shirt from kohl's that kris despised and that i, myself, wasn't too fond of either... but i wasn't about to go home empty-handed.

not after that odyssey.

but, as we were heading home, we opted to stop at one more store: wal-mart. yes, i hate wal-mart just as much as you do, folks. they kill small business and have out-of-wedlock relations with its wife. i'm well aware of this. but, when hawaiian shirts are on the line, all bets are off: i was on a quest.

in the end, i found two awesome shirts for $1 less than the one shitty shirt i purchased at kohl's (which still has yet to refund that $22.39 - c'mon people. seriously.) i was contemplating (briefly) on taking a picture of the shirt and posting it here, for all the world to see, but then realized that was way too much effort to put into one blog entry that probably twelve people are ever going to read, and that, out of those initial twelve, maybe only two or three would be interested in what my new hawaiian shirt looks like in the first place.

...and so, to appease those two or three readers/hawaiian shirt affenciandos (or however the hell you spell that) out there, i'll post some later when i update everybody on how the cannonball's first birthday went down. stay tuned.

do i roll?/well i guess/thunder express,

- brian

hero of the hawaiian shirt