* Between The Sea (the Med) and The Alps -- {Pronounce: ontruh la mair eh lay zalp}

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

When a pool party barbecue isn't

We have a new family in our church around the same age as all my other young-family friends, and we thought it would be nice to get to know them.  As we are not otherwise equipped in either house or terrain to accommodate active little people, we've had a date for about two months for them to come over with another young family once it was pool season.  Nature decided not to play nice the only day needed the whole weekend.

While we've had beautiful weather for several days, including Sunday morning, the afternoon immediately clouded up.  Okay, kids can swim in clouds, and we knew the water was fairly warm.  Until it started raining, and continued, making nothing but mud anywhere we might have for kids to run around.  The moms were not thrilled thinking about how to occupy their little darlings, not having brought their own entertainment as we had the pool.

Back and forth it went as to how to deal with coming up anyway, going over to another more kid friendly house and just winging it with what had been brought, or staying at church and using the Sunday school room.  At least there would be toys, videos, and a bit of room to run around there.  They had brought all the side dishes and dessert, but I had the appetizers and meat up at my house waiting for them.  In the end, they decided to stay at church.

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Pretend hostess
So here's your hostess with the mostess and the beautifully set table.

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Elegant dining














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Makeshift swimming pool
And here's the rooftop pool ambiance, a wee bit shallower than what we were offering up at the house, and the rotisseried turkey roast, quickly found locally, heated in the miniscule microwave, totally missing that barbecued flavor and sauce (but still quite tasty). 
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Imaginary bbq

So in the end, we still pulled off a pool party rotisserie.


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Why we needed pool activity
Even the aspect involving the little urchins was not as programmed.  Between the two families, there are two girls and three boys.  Yay for the pool to keep them occupied!  But before the party, it dropped down to only two boys.  Then back up to three.  Then back down to two, this time from the other family.  In the end, we had our three boys, but that involved borrowing one from elsewhere.  And you can see why their mothers were a bit leery of turning them loose on my house without the pool to occupy them.

We did, however, end up with a gourmet chef for the turkey, who definitely added a bit of flair to the whole dinner party.  He had his knife, then he had his bigger knife, then he had the most important tool, his glass of wine.  What more does a party need?

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The knife
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The most important
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The better knife

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Successful entertaining against all odds
Here we have all the party participants (the hostess, who did nothing, would be seated at her same place of honor as the sewing teacher at a different function, but
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Well deserved applause

somebody had to document the event), including the chef's grand presentation.

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Kids' stuff marshmallows
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Classic bbq watermelon
For dessert, we had the obligatory summer barbecue watermelon and marshmallows to roast on the grill (ah, yes, menus involving kids do involve a little different planning).  Does it really matter if one has a nice slice of watermelon to munch in a garden or all cut up to keep the classroom clean?  Do kids care if marshmallows are cold and firm rather than being roasted and melted?  Not that anybody noticed.

The object was to get together and get to know each other all a little better, and kids always enjoy goofing off with other kids.  As those objectives were met, I think we can call this whole fiasco actually quite successful.  Certainly gives us all fun memories to recall in the future.  And we have set a date in September to try this all over again!

4 comments:

  1. You certainly have mastered the art of "swinging by the seat of your pants"!! Good job!!

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  2. I have to say you turned that bunch of lemons into lemonade. I don't know if I'd be as nice about it as you were! Looks like everyone had a good time and if you can have wine in the church hall, well, all right! Obviously not Baptists! Like your outfit, too!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. Would you believe I made that outfit over 20 years ago for a Parisian summer life? Can't let turquoise paislies go, after all!

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  3. Hope your Sept, date works. And it will be even more fun with the kids knowing each other better (snicker). Cute outfit.

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