Birthdays, Waterbaloons & Relatives

My little sister's birthday is July 1st, which usually gets in the way of 4th of July celebrations. Every year something different happens...one year we might be at a conference, the next we could be in Danville. Who knows? This year was even more interesting than most... my Uncle Tracy came to town.

My Uncle Tracy(he prefers to be called 'Tray' for obvious reasons) lives in California with my Aunt Jeanne and my two cousins, Kelsey and Jonathan. Because of distance reasons, we haven't seen my Uncle and his family for almost 6 years. So, naturally we were excited when we heard that Uncle Tray and Jonathan were going to be coming to Virginia sometime this summer on a 'Civil War Tour' of the east coast.

Now, we knew he was coming, we just didn't know exactly WHEN he was coming. Dad, Jeremy and I were scheduled to go to a conference two days after Brittany's birthday. Finally, Dad heard that he was going to be coming the very same weekend as the conference...really bad timing. Fortunately, Dad was able to convince him to rearrange his tour schedule so that he could come at the beginning of that week.

Aunt Patti was also able to come, so it was like a big family reunion for my Dad. He got out all the old family slides and rented a projector. When the crew got here, it was alot of fun. We had dinner and watched slides that first night. We had planned to celebrate Brittany's birthday the next day because everyone was there.

I love to bake. I especially enjoy making cakes, so I usually get the honor of making all our birthday cakes...including mine. Brittany had picked a Strawberry Cheesecake Torte for her cake this year, so I spent most of the morning making it. Mom had taken Brittany with her to the grocery store, so while the cake was baking, Jeremy, Timothy, Jonathan and I decorated the dining room.

Actually, it was just Timothy and me. Jeremy and Jonathan were too busy cooking up mischief with balloons in the kitchen.

Just for the record- the kitchen was a mess. An Angel food cake was laying on the table, cream cheese was softening, the sink had messy pots and pans in it waiting to be washed, and the countertops were powdery from flour.

The boys refused to tell me what they were up too. Finally I convinced Timothy to tell me as long as I didn't tell anyone else.

The boys were snatching extra balloons and filling them up with as much water as possible. Their plan was to fill up a big bucket with waterballoons, wait until Dad, Uncle Tray and Aunt Patti had come home from lunch, and then ambush them.

Not only did they want to get Dad and Uncle Tray soaking wet...they also wanted to make them very cold, which is hard to do with lukewarm water when it's in the 90's outside. So, Jeremy decided to stick ice cubes into the balloons to make ice water balloons.

I said that they could just stick them in the freezer for 15 minutes...but then, who listens to your big sister?

Have you ever tried to stuff an ice cube into the tube of a balloon? Then you should know from experience that it doesn't work well. At first they tried to stick the cube down the hatch without any water in the balloon. That wasn't working, so I suggested that they try filling the balloon up with water first. That seemed to work...until Jeremy wanted to set the balloon on the countertop while holding the top open for the ice cube. Then, of course, all the water gushed out into his face.

Well, eventually the balloons had ice cubes in them, the kitchen was quite wet, and the boys were ready for the ambush that was expected any minute.

Dad and the rest didn't actually get home for another hour, so the 30 minutes spent stuffing ice cubes into water balloons was all for naught.

There is a big difference between normal Balloons and Waterballoons. Ordinary balloons are quite a bit stronger than the types used for water. It is also mush more difficult to get a lot of water into them. When Dad, Uncle Tray and Aunt Patti got home from lunch, Aunt Patti skirted around the fight- while the boys launched their ammo. They had to throw them about three times each before they actually broke. Instead of exploding on the ground, they just bounced into the hands of the men.

I believe the boys lost that water battle.

That night, after we had eaten and the presents had been opened, the whole crew gathered in the kitchen to sing Old Faithful.

I don't know who wrote the 'happy birthday' song...but that ditty has probably been sung more than any other song in history. Every year... the same song.

Someone should really write another.

That song is almost like John 3:16...it's the verse that everyone has automatically memorized. Normally, it goes smoothly, even if you can't sing. Unfortunately that doesn't happen with Marshes.

Mom counted off 1...2...3...

And everyone started in a different key.

If you are having trouble imagining how this must have sounded, go over to the nearest piano, take both hands and press them down at the same time.

Pain.

Not only did everyone start out in a different key, no one seemed to be able to change keys. I tried...and succeeded, but only after sticking fingers in both my ears.

After exactly 24 seconds of torture, we looked at one another, wondering what went wrong.

Dad even got it on video...and he didn't seem to have noticed a thing.

We had a wonderful time with all our relatives...and right after they left, we packed up for our annual Youth Camp...which I'm sure you will be hearing about another time.