Trees, Houses, and Birthdays

It has been a crazy busy weekend! Or at least yesterday (Saturday) was. It all started with a huge thunderstorm knocking out power at 630am. It came back on just in time to get ready to go. My mom and I headed to Manor Park at 845am to join in the community tree planting. Volunteers gathered at the park and were divided into groups to plant 500 trees in a couple hours. While waiting for everyone to get there, we enjoyed free donuts, bagels, apple juice, orange juice, and coffee, as well as everyone got a free t-shirt. Then we divided into 10 groups and headed to our assigned destination. My mom and I were assigned to zone 5, which was about 1 mile away. Our group planted 55 trees in an hour. We were speedy, and one of the first groups to finish. Once all the trees were planted and mulched, everyone got a free lunch: Roscoe's BBQ pork or chicken sandwich, coleslaw, potato chips, and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies from Gingerbread House Bakery. It was sooo yummy!

The next event on the agenda was my cousin's housewarming party. My cousin and her family moved into a trailer about 2 months ago. Now that they are all situated, and the weather is nice, they decided to have everyone over to see the new place. For being a trailer, it's really nice! It's a lot bigger and nicer than the one I grew up in and moved out of 15 years ago. The living room and kitchen/dining room are very big and open. All the kids get their own rooms at the opposite end from my cousin and her husbands bedroom. And there are 2 bathrooms, one at each end. And of course there was food. I'm a sucker for food. It was fun to see them and their new place.

The next, and last, event was in yet another town for a good friend of the family's 30th birthday party. It was a lot of fun. The back room of the bar/restaurant was reserved for the party, and we had our own mini bar. There was a DJ taking requests and karaoke. It was a crazy night, as usual when the crowd gets together. But it was a lot of fun.