Once we cleaned up from breakfast and loaded up the car, we headed west to visit my family. We weren't able to take our normal route and had to detour. The detour didn't add any time, but it sure added adventure. We were in the back country and had to make several turns. By the end, I was getting car sick and ready to be done! The rest of the day was quiet and just spent with my parents and sister.
Saturday was the big day that all my family came over- my sister's family, brother's family, grandma, uncle, and "added" family members. There were 14 adults, 4 kids + 3 babies - quite the family gathering! We had 2 egg hunts and a duel birthday party planned, and an unexpected fire! Luckily, it wasn't our fire, but we did get to watch.
I noticed the fire first. I was outside grilling some chicken and noticed parts of the neighbor's yard on fire. There was a guy out there watching it, so I just assumed he was being stupid in burning clipping right underneath his row of pine trees. I went in and got my dad. He went outside and looked and agreed he was being unsafe, but that he was out there and didn't feel he should intervene. I had to pass the grilling off to my brother and went and put Bean down for a nap. About 10 min later when I returned downstairs, everyone was outside and the backyard was full of smoke - you couldn't even see the neighbor's yard! I was then informed that the shed had caught fire and a firetruck had just shown up (you couldn't see it because of the smoke).
My parents live in the semi-country and the fire department is all voluntary. My dad and brother immediately jumped in with a garden hose and started to saturate the fire that was now on my dad's edge of the property. We all stood outside and watched (I yelled at my brother a few times because he was up in the smoke, right next to the shed. I was concerned there could be gasoline in the shed, and it could blow up.). About 20-30 minutes later, the fire was out and our entertainment was over. We headed back inside and ate our Easter lunch.
(The pine trees mark the property line between my parents and their neighbors. The neighbor's she that caught on fire is right next to the pine trees. The fire was started by another neighbor, who was trying to burn something in his yard. The fire then moved to the pine needles under the line of trees on the other side of the property. From there, it just followed all the pine needles under the trees until eventually the shed caught on fire.)
(My brother thinks he was the fire chief and quickly got to work with his little garden hose while the firemen worked from behind with their big water hose. The property butts up next to the school parking lot, so the firetrucks were parked there, and worked from behind.)
(Steve assisting "Fire Chief Joe" with hooking up the hose to another water source.)
(I took this picture blindly, not knowing there was a fireman walking through it. Later, I realize it was just any fireman, but my best friend's dad! The Russiaville Fire Dept is made up of volunteer fireman. He heard the address, knew it was close to my parents' house, and jumped in the truck. Thanks Jeff! You can see some of the fire damage on the siding on the left, and the black on the front.)
(Dad took over manning the hose on the side when Joe and Steve switched water sources.)
(The backside of the shed was another story, it burned through to the framework.)
(Aaaaaand, I was right. Notice that can of gas?! Good thing no one got hurt!)
After lunch, we started our planned festivities -- an egg hunt for the little kids, followed by a little birthday party for 2 of my nieces (their birthdays were earlier in the week - on the same day!) and then the adult egg hunt. since Easter fell so late this year, we were able to just hunt eggs outside. We finished up the evening with the guys playing computer games, and the little girls dyeing eggs. Bean was a trooper through the day. She took 2 good naps, and enjoyed all the attention from everyone. During the kids egg hunt, I took her around and let her pick some of the eggs up. She just wanted to hold one, so Steve and I just went around and got her eggs. In my family, participants in egg hunts are all assigned a specific color of egg so that way it's all fair.
On Sunday, we headed to church with my parents. Ahm & Abo had a good time showing her off after the service. After church, we headed back to my parents for a little cookout with just my parents and sister. The rest of the afternoon was pretty quiet. I watched movies with my sister while Bean (and my mom- ha!) took naps and Steve played computer games with my dad. We went ahead and stayed a little later than we normally do, and headed back home after scrounging some dinner. Steve worked a couple of night shifts after Easter, so he needed to stay up later in preparation of switching his sleeping schedule.
We weren't sure why we had to detour on our trip coming in, so we decided to take another way back, just to avoid it. This time, we chose a different route back which proved very interesting. We got to take a drive through REAL Amish country. We passed a dozen horse and buggies (this was Steve's first experience with so many). We also passed by a field with a lot of dark smoke billowing up. Since we were still running the fire high from the previous day, we veered a little of course to check it out. We ended up passing a house with a bonfire built of rubber tires, hence all the black smoke. Definitely not legal. We returned back on course and got home around 9:30. Bean had slept the first part of the trip, but woke up halfway through. She was fine until the last 15 minutes. She was hungry and ready to be in bed - and so was I! Poor Steve got to stay up until 2am. What a fun, family packed weekend.
(Bean surrounded by some of her cousins.)
(I can 't get over how similar these two are in body size. Cousin O on the left is 2 months younger than Bean. They both weigh the same, but Bean has an inch on him. I'm guessing that as they get older, O will tower over Bean.)
(Cousin O & Bean hanging out with Ahm & Abo.)
(Hunting for Bean's eggs)
(She just wanted to play with the eggs. She is also very unsure of grass, ha!)
(Happy Easter!)
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