Mike's birthday bash

Mike and his sisters



they look innocent enough......


Let's get this fire started!


Last Saturday night the place to be was at Mike's birthday party. Every year around the 2nd weekend in October he celebrates his birthday with a big (fun) party....rain or shine! and even on occasion...a hurricane or tropical storm
Everyone who has attended in the past...knows it's going to be a great time.Everyone brings a side dish and he cooks up smoked turkey, beef and pork and his special fish gumbo...chock full of shrimp, fish, crab? you name it. This is the real deal...something in every bite...(sort of like my favorite Ben & Jerry's ice cream! haha) His family and his parents and sisters and nieces and nephews always come.(that's him with his sisters Denise, Christina and Marie and one of his nieces in the photos) Old friends and friends of friends.(Steve & Heather) (Steve, John M. Rick B and Courtney in photos)..it's just a great time.
This year I had a blast...for whatever reason I was just in a good mood and I had more fun than I've had in months! Probably after just having spent time enjoying visits with my own brothers and sister Martha...it was like more of the same. Lots of laughs, a great football game and good music. I did have my bottle of champagne....but I didn't really over do it. We (John M., Steve M and someone else
(?)only caused a little trouble when as the night went on and the crowd thinned out,,,we noticed that many of the people were over in the side yard near where the fire was burning. (it was finally COLD! outside) Well...we were standing next to a little
chimnea and a stack of wood...so why not light one in it? (made perfect sense)
Well...of course it made no sense because Denise didn't want a fire in it during the party in case a child got curious, or someone accidentally tipped it over, etc.....not thinking along those lines due to champagne-me, beer-John and actually just water for Steve...no excuses there haha...John, Steve, and I and the other guy all thought we had a great plan. The guy (wish I could remember his name) decides to make it really easy...and goes over to the other fire and brings back a burning log.....sticks it in and "Voila!" a fire.(he's getting it ready in the next to last photo) In the meantime...I went inside to get something. When I returned just moments later the wind had stoked up the fire and SMOKE was pouring out of the "fireplace" gassing everyone in the area out....John, Steve and I looked at each other and said something along the lines of "Oh Crap!""This may be why they didn't light a fire in this thing!" After we all stopped laughing...Denise came out and saw the smoke and said "Hey...who lit a fire in here?" The guys were already working on putting it out...by way of lifting the whole "fireplace" up and hauling it off around the corner...to where Shane (who just happens to be a firefighter) was more than happy to hose the whole thing down and then some. Luckily, even Denise was laughing at this point.Meanwhile John, Steve and I and the other guy were looking a little sheepish...as we apologized for smoking everyone out...haha The only other event was when my acrylic glass that I was telling everyone was perfect because it was unbreakable...fell/got knocked out of my hand and bounced off the pavers...breaking the bottom piece off.....so I was left with the glass and a stem....John M suggested
that if I needed to set it down I just needed to find a soft patch of dirt or grass and poke it in! hahahaha (last photo). Really...I wasn't out of control...we were just having fun! (my) John had left around 9:00pm and promised to come back to drive me home after he took a "nap".All night people were laughing when I told them that...but lo and behold who came dancing out onto the patio around 11:00pm...JOHN! Mike's sisters couldn't believe it...Marie looked up and said "Hey! He's back!" (If you know John you know he's either going strong...or he's going to eat have a beer or two and get tired. He has been known to slip out of many a party...to go home and sleep....but this time...he came back and stayed until 1:30am!) I figured when I went to bed that I might be moving a little slowly in the morning...but I woke up feeling great! Walked up to Chris and Heather's house to get my car...and drove it home. I think I am ready for the next party!