Return of the Shepherds

What's up, gang.

Happy Veteran's Day. . . I guess.  We're not doing anything to commemorate this 'holiday' per se - because I refuse to thank the military for their service unless they're defending us from a serious threat, which they haven't done since. . . oh. . . World War II.  We did, however, end up doing something completely unrelated this evening.

Our old friends, the Shepherds, recently returned to Midland to visit family, something they do once or twice a year, perhaps.  The Shepherds were once one of the ten or eleven families that were part of this friend group of ours, but moved out to New Jersey in 2019 when Pete landed a sweet promotion with his company. So, accordingly, whenever they pop back into our neck of the woods our group makes an effort to hang out with them.

This evening, they rented out an entire private VIP room at Valley Lanes - an entertainment venue across town with a bowling alley, arcade, laser tag, bar/restaurant, etc. - and hosted all of us (they are, well, pretty rich now.)  Five of the families were able to make it out for the evening - coincidentally, the Inner Five families, if you will - and we spent the night feasting, drinking cheap beer, and watching the kids bowl while catching up with our long-lost New Jersey compatriots.

Check it out. . .

We placed all of our food orders around 6pm - several pizzas, appetizers, wings, etc. - but it took quite awhile for it all to come out (they were pretty short-staffed.)

Abby, mid-flight

There were a few other families there that none of us knew - friends of theirs from Mt. Pleasant (both Andrea and Pete are CMU alums), so we didn't get to hang out with them as much as we would've liked, so our group just kinda hung out as usual.

The wives, cluckin' away as usual - Danielle, Kris, Mees, Kelli, and Courtney.

The dads just stood around in a circle and drank multiple pitchers of Miller Lite - par for the course with this group.

The pizza arrives, and the Cannonball wastes no time in loading up the first of many plates.

Wouldn't be a hang-out with this group without attempting to get multiple group pictures. . . 

The moms with Andrea. . .

. . . and one with one of Andrea's friends (not sure who that is.)

The Dads, feat. Pete.

After a few hours at Valley Lanes, we said goodbye to the Shepherds and, wanting to hang out some more, headed back to the Collier residence to have a few drinks.

Moms holding court at the kitchen table, as usual

We ended up having a wives vs. husbands game of Mind the Gap - a multi-generational, trivia game we've played in the past, and one that we dudes always dominate.

This game wasn't even close - Erik and I are pretty much unstoppable when it comes to trivia, so it came as no surprise that we absolutely slaughtered the womenfolk once again.  So ends another fun evening with our local squad.

- Brian