On Freedom, Mini Vans and Pigs

This weekend was perfect. We were child-free for two glorious days. Granted, it required driving up to Maine (Vacationland) on Friday evening of Memorial Day weekend with a very irritable child yelling "I want Boohbah (her pacifier)" over and over much of the almost 2 1/2 hour drive that should only take 1 1/2hrs, but the end result was so worth it. We barely slowed the car down as we handed her off to grandma. In fact, we didn't even drive all the way to her house; we called her and grandpa (Corinne calls them Dumma and Dumpa, which just cracks me up) and had them meet us at our favorite Burger place for the exchange. We've been away from the little darling before, of course, even as long as five days when we went to Puerto Rico. But we've always had a big event like a wedding or a company party or a concert. It was just so blissfully relaxing being child free with no particular place to go. After gorging on the healthy dinner of burgers with blue cheese and cheese fries, we came home and watched a mindless movie. We tried to sleep in on Saturday but we were both awakened by my endless coughing from these damn allergies that I have for the first time this year (normally I would rant here about my theory of new species of plant pollens that are thriving due to global warming, but I'll spare you). We lounged around a bit and did not watch Mickey Mouse or Little Einsteins, thank you very much, and then went out to an uninterrupted and leisurely breakfast.

From there we shopped around for the aforementioned mini van (grumble, grumble). Not much to go into here other than to remark about how lackadaisical we were able to be. How inefficient and relaxed. No rushing home for nap time, or trying to work in a healthy lunch on the run. No diaper changes and snacks (I want a een cereal bar!) and sippy cups (Not wa! I want lem-ade! I want a duce-box) and more snacks (I want dandy!). We listened to our music, especially the completely offensive and inappropriate stuff (No! Not momma's music! I want you music!) And we took all day to make this rather expensive purchase, shopping around and doing our homework instead of the way it went down the time we dragged Corinne with us to buy a flat screen TV (to give you an idea, we were talked into buying exactly the opposite of what we had intended to buy, all the while listening to Corinne, covered in chocolate ice cream and up way past her bedtime, repeating "You all done! You doe home now!" until I wanted to rip my ears off my head, and me saying "you need to wait" and "I don't even care anymore, just pick one!". We ended up returning said TV two days later.)

From there we went to a movie. We didn't really care what we saw, just wanted the sheer pleasure of watching a movie in a theater. We ended up seeing Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. It was kind of silly, but then again I realized, when I went back to watch the series I loved so much as a teenager, that they kind of all were. Whole lotta suspension of disbelief required there!

Continuing on with our day of parental indulgences, we ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. We didn't even mind a wait and we didn't have to get our check with the food. We talked uninterrupted about, well, mostly Corinne and Pete's work, but there's just not much more to talk about in our lives right now. Pete doesn't really want to hear about the plot of that week's Little House re-runs or about how I scooped the whole yard of dog poop yesterday. At no point did we need to negotiate regarding how many more bites anyone needed to eat in order to be considered all done or to insist that anyone please use silverware to eat their mashed potatoes.

On Sunday we attended our annual Memorial Day tradition, "The Pig Roast". Some friends of Pete's family, Clarkie and Karen, have had this party every year for I think close to 30 years or so and we have attended the last 6 or 7. It really is an amazing spectacle.

First of all, there are usually close to 100 people at this party. Each family brings a side dish, appetizer or dessert, so as you can imagine, the food is bountiful. There's always a theme and the place is decorated accordingly, along with many of the guests. Some past themes we have participated in were Halloween, Mardi Gras, the Chinese Year of the Pig, the Millennium, Planes, Trains and Automobiles and this year, the Pig Olympics. I forgot to mention that the pig features prominently in this event. This couple really digs pigs. They literally have hundreds of pig gewgaws: statues, magnets, stuffed animals, signs, coffee mugs, lawn ornaments, you name it. I'm sure it started as a joke gift or two at Christmas and has taken on a life of its own. Pig items aren't exactly hard to come by (unlike Pete's favorite animal, the sloth). Clarkie and Karen are big time collectors. Their house is packed floor to ceiling with things they have collected (I think I'll save that for next year's post).

Also impressive is that the food is served buffet style on real plates with real silverware (100 people, may I remind you. I'd hate to have to do those dishes) and there's even a rumor that they re-use and therefore hand wash the plastic cups. And there's a lot of those: They have a fully stocked bar and 2 or 3 beers on tap in specially designed keg-orators. They also have their own salad bar. I mean like the kind you see in a restaurant, complete with sneeze guard. They have an outhouse, 4 or 5 tents, dozens of tables, and probably close to 100 chairs. All of these things belong to them. They are like their own private catering/ rental company. In fact, four years ago Pete and I hosted his brother's wedding in our backyard, and we got most of our supplies from Clarkie and Karen. They are my party-throwing idols.

Her shirt says: I may be little, but I'm big on the pig

I was going to include a picture of the actual roasted pig but I decided it may be offensive to some viewers and didn't want any PETA lunatics hunting me down. This is the cabana-like bar.

The famous salad bar. I wasn't kidding!

Round One

So as you can see, it was a perfect weekend. We got our little bubaloo back from Pete's mom at the pig roast, and we always appreciate her a little bit more having been away from her for a day or two. I suspect the feeling is mutual.