Just finished a whirlwind of a weekend. In traditional American fashion we celebrated another annual holiday - St Patrick's Day. When I informed my parents last night about the small celebration we hosted at the house on Saturday, my Father said "but you're not Irish." Good point, but the great thing about holidays in the US is that any excuse is a great excuse for a party, and whether it's Irish, Jewish, Colonial, or someone just purchased a new TV, the yanks love to drink, eat and socialize.
Lisa made a kick-butt soda bread, which was supposed to last until dessert, but evaporated before the main course. The family and a group of guests sat down for a pseudo Irish meal of corn-beef (I hate the stuff in the can, but the fresh stuff was awesome) and potatoes, and for good measure we threw some fish into the meal too. Since we were then lacking in the dessert department I took the kids and went to the store for cake. The dog gave me that look of "you're going without me," so she came along too.
Thanks to everyone who brought beer - my wine and spirit stock is pretty healthy but I ran dry on the beer - a few of us drank Guinness and a selection of lagers.
We had plans to go out on Saturday night for drinks, but the party went on until early evening, and neither I, Lisa, or the remaining guest wanted to join crowds of people in a bar, so we cracked open bottles of wine and spirits in front of a movie. The kids crashed about 8pm, so I took the opportunity to relax over a few glasses of Bailey's Irish Cream - slurp.
On Sunday I drove a family friend into town, where she met a friend who was to drive her Northwards home. Once again the car was loaded with both Simon, Bella, AND the dog. I wanted to give Lisa a relaxing Sunday morning while I had fun time with the kids. On the way back home we stopped off at a play park, but couldn't stay too long because of the cold wind and wet slides making the experience slightly less enjoyable.
My Father-in-law dropped in Sunday evening on the way back from his 2 month trip in Florida, so we had fun finishing the weekend in Italian style with red wine, pasta and cheese - all in all an awesome weekend...