Okay, yeah, so I know it’s Friday and I’m a bit late on this one. I blame that on the fact that it was a heckuvan action-packed weekend.
A little history: every since my nephew was born, every Memorial Day weekend has been pretty similar: it consists of my mom, dad & aunt Marlene (whose birthday is the day after Keegan’s) coming to town and us all going out to a Twins game and then having a birthday party for Keegan. It’s become a fun tradition, and while the seating at the Metrodome annoys me to no end, I always enjoy myself.
This year, we started the weekend a little early, as my mom decided to surprise my aunt for her birthday by taking her to see Phantom Of The Opera. She invited Meghan and my sister and I insisted on going because I’d never seen it.
Turns out it’s not that great. Fans of Andrew Lloyd Weber everywhere disagree I’m sure, since it’s an über-popular musical, but the truth is, the story is boring and the music is a combination of cheesy 80′s synthesizer and ridiculous operatic crap. Our experience was not helped by the fact that we couldn’t really understand what anybody was saying throughout most of the show because whoever was managing the sound production focused everything on the center of the ground floor. We also happened to be right next to one of the speakers that the Phantom’s voiceovers came out of, so what I’m sure was meant to sound like an eerie voice in the distance ended up being an obnoxiously loud voice right next to me. But whatever. I came away from it thinking I was glad to have seen it, but have no desire to ever see it again. I’ll probably skip the sequel, too.
Another difference between this and previous Memorial Day weekends was that this time my mom & aunt stayed at our house, rather than a hotel over in Woodbury. So, after we got back from the show, we ended up staying up until 1:30am playing Hand & Foot (although our rules are slightly different).
Saturday was the day of the Twins game, although it wasn’t until 6pm. My sister and her family, as well as my dad, all came over for lunch (grilled burgers), and a then went over to the park.
As you can see, we had a good time. Also, I’m a huge dork.
After the park, we headed back to the house and eventually dispersed to go to the game. The Twins played the Brewers (and won) and it was fun.
OMG It's a home run!! Oh wait, no, he's out. Dang.
And goddamn, I love me some Metrodome hot dogs.
After the Twins game, it was back to our house (for Meghan, me, my mom and aunt anyway) for another round of Hand & Foot (in which mom & Marlene clobbered us so completely that I became convinced that my mother was some sort of card-playing demon from the netherworlds sent here to drive me into madness, thus fulfilling The Rhyandjia Prophecy–NO NOT REALLY–it was ticking me off, though).
The on Sunday, it was time for Keegan’s birthday party. My sister had cleared out her garage this year, so we got to spent the afternoon enjoying the fantastic weather, drinkin’ beer, eatin ribs, drinkin’ beer, playin’ with the kids, drinkin’ beer’, eating brats, drinkin’ beer, and eventually, more Hand & Foot. Also, there were pirates.
Peyton, at times, was not so impressed.
We ended up hanging out until around 11pm, before finally heading home for the night. It was, of course, a fantastic time.
On Monday, Meghan & I took my mom & Marlene to the Crystal Cafe for breakfast before sending them on their way. Then we went out and finally accomplished a task we’ve been working on for two years:
We bought curtains.
The color was my choice, the style was Meghan's. I did the physical labor.