Family Update

This week I am working hard to get ready for Zach and of course Phil to visit. I have FINALLY gotten Ike’s old room cleaned out. The bed will be removed after Zach leaves and we will paint the room a more exciting color. For now though the room is a barren guest room. It probably will not feel homey at all. All the rest of the bedroom furniture is stored in the garage now. Zach arrives Thursday night. He was able to leave his base at noon to catch a flight. Phil is in a different training command (Zach is Aviation Electronics…Phil is an Air Traffic Controller) and isn’t allowed to leave until 4:30 which was not enough time to catch a flight out on Thursday so he is coming in Friday morning.

Friday will be an open day where everybody does their thing. At night Milwaukee has their fireworks downtown on the lakefront so I suspect everyone will end up there. Karen and I will most likely join the church group. Kt, Phil, and Zach will probably join Z’s friends.

Saturday is the Franklin 4^th of July parade. Victory of the Lamb has a float with the band playing on it. I ride on the float and run the soundboard. There is a tractor behind the float with a wagon that carries the literature and candy to hand out. We hand out like 2000 brochures and invitations to soccer camp and Hallepalooza. Ike helps out with this…he sucks because he knows half the people there. He is such a social butterfly he just knows everyone from somewhere. This is a cool thing to do. It’s a little weird being in a parade though rather than watching it. So many people wave like I should know them…I rack my brain over who they are and they were just being friendly.

After the parade we are heading up to the lake house. I expect there will be about 20 relatives who will be there. I hope to see a revival of King of the Raft and the Bucket game. I think having two marines makes it more interesting. The bucket game is a manly sport where a group of manly men such as ourselves stand in a circle in the lake about thigh high. We then start by the first person choosing a victim and they can pick from an array of bucket sizes and shapes …it just depends which one you think you can cause the most damage with. Then you fill it with water and whip it across the victims chest in any pattern you see fit to try and sting and pummel the victim. Then the victim gets to choose the next victim. It goes on like this until …well…until you feel like not playing anymore. There is no point and there is no way to win. It’s just about how manly can you take the water whippings and how well can you give them. Is there anything more manly than that…short of actual whippings or using baseball bats? Great fun!! I’m sure it will catch on one day. This game does pre-date my existence in my in-laws family so perhaps it has historical roots that your family enjoys.

Sunday we will come home.. I have no plan after that. That’s as far as I’ve gotten. Zach and Phil go home to Pensacola, FL Monday morning.

This last weekend we were at the Lake house as well. No bucket game this time. We actually took K’s parents and my mother up there to be a very quiet and elderly weekend retreat. We tried to pamper the Mom’s as it was their Mother’s Day present. I also mowed the grass, cleaned the moss off the siding, raked pine needles. Fun stuff. I think the lake house is all ready for the party this weekend. My Mother-in-law and Karen put up all kinds of patriotic decorations. Since the two Marines are coming we should have decorated it with like weapons and khaki. Alas it is red white and blue.

Ike has now been to the Muay Tay lessons 5 days a week for a few weeks now. He is doing pretty good. I had him box me the other night and he and Kt went at it last night. He is a quick lil bugger. He got some great hits to the kidney and face. I’m not sure why people enjoy this. Well I just suck and I fell for his fakes every time. So that was enough pain for me. I suspect he will be quite nasty to deal with in 6 months or a year. I suppose he has to live up to his nick name of Jackie Chan.