Outdoor entertaining

We had a barbeque at our house yesterday, and if I do say so myself, it was a smashing success. The weather was perfect, sunny and mid-70s. The swingset was a hit for those of the right age. We had a total of 13 adults and eight kids, including three sets of twins, the oldest of which is 13 months. Thankfully there were no vegetarians in attendance, as they might have had an aneurysm upon viewing my platters and platters full of meat. Ribs… mmm. Chicken… mmm. Bratwurst?! MMMM. I’m from the midwest, so I love me some brats cooked in beer and finished on the grill. As M says, I’m the only person he knows who actually keeps “cooking beer” on hand. But honestly, as little beer as I generally drink, I’m not going to waste Stella Artois by bringing it to a boil and throwing in some sausages. No, I keep Budweiser on hand for that very purpose.

Anyways, it was a perfect day to be outside in the fresh air. Despite having only a 35-minute afternoon nap, my kids did really well being outside for a few hours, passed around to various friends and family. Rebecca had a hard time going to bed, and I have a slight suspicion she might be working on an ear infection, but Daniel was happy as could be the whole darn time. And who wouldn’t be, if you got to try your first rib?

I used to be much better at documenting events, photographically-speaking. As I’ve gotten a bit older, though, I seem to be more wary of snapping pictures of my friends drinking beer. Maybe because, in college (the height of my “unofficial event photographer” days), it was sort of an unwritten thing that everyone was into. We liked taking pictures, we liked posing for pictures with groups of friends, arms around everyone. Now, parties are a little quieter, and I suppose I’m spending more time chatting idly with other guests than I am trying to get pictures of everyone. I still get a ridiculous number of pictures of my children (also thanks to my sister-in-law), but basically none of the other people at the party, which is sort of too bad. Maybe next time…

At any rate, I was exhausted after the party and had a raging headache, so was in bed and asleep at 8:30. Can I party like a rock star, or what?

Got up this morning, kids were happy. House was a little cool because we had left windows open, but the fresh air was great. And the house smelled faintly like ribs and beer. Not a bad way to start a holiday.