The 10Th Annual St.Pat's Party commenced Saturday March 19th amidst the best weather one could hope for in Minnesota during March, a balmy & sunny 55 degrees!The day started with Tracy and Kay creating the what is now known as the "Chili Masterpiece"
a creation of spicy and less spicy that the crowd devoured with gusto and which may have been the driving force behind the first keg getting polished off by 5:50. (the crowd went through 37 quarts of the stuff and we were bummed that we didn't even get leftovers!!) Kay also created the schedule of events o' the day, I digress...
The set up began on Friday evening Sandy arrived at 6:00pm (THANK YOU SANDY!!!) By 9:00pm the tables were washed, set and the party favors were all laid out about the house. The 60 p
eppers, 9 onions and 18 tomato's were cut, diced and sliced; all placed in strategic locations awaiting the Saturday morning madness. The 60 cans of various beans were lined up and ready for the can opener. With out Sandy's help we never could have pulled it off, hats off to Sandy!
eppers, 9 onions and 18 tomato's were cut, diced and sliced; all placed in strategic locations awaiting the Saturday morning madness. The 60 cans of various beans were lined up and ready for the can opener. With out Sandy's help we never could have pulled it off, hats off to Sandy!Saturday began in earnest as the previous mentioned items were combined, sauteed, simmered and the chili was born. Marital promises keep me from revealing the exact recipe but...let it be known that the recipe secret is safe with Kay., God help those who taste her first batch! She has been known to say " Mom this isn't that spicy, really". The hard work behind us let us have a moment of leisure where Tracy took Nikki for a walk and Tom and the kids did homework, piano, drums and the like.
T
he Grand Marshal and Marshalete's along with the Miniature Marshals arrived around 2:00pm (Welcome Jan, Chris, Jet and Charlie from Chicago) and a lively football game ensued. They are our daycare friends, fellow Adoptive Parents and currently living in Chicago. They came up for the day and made sure the festivities hit an all time high!
he Grand Marshal and Marshalete's along with the Miniature Marshals arrived around 2:00pm (Welcome Jan, Chris, Jet and Charlie from Chicago) and a lively football game ensued. They are our daycare friends, fellow Adoptive Parents and currently living in Chicago. They came up for the day and made sure the festivities hit an all time high!The
crowd began to gather around 4:00 and this year appears to have been the all time high with kids and adults pushing the 'wearing 'o the green' number into triple digits! The parade began in
earnest at 5:00pm sharp with the marshalls leading the way - around the neighborhood, beverage in hand, kids running around with sugar induced power, left me with the thought that perhaps we may actually need a permit for this event. That thought lead to the next which was, if we got a permit the city would know what we were up to, which means that open container discussions would come up leading to well, better leave the permit out of it.... The good news is ... another year, another dodge of the authorities.
crowd began to gather around 4:00 and this year appears to have been the all time high with kids and adults pushing the 'wearing 'o the green' number into triple digits! The parade began in
earnest at 5:00pm sharp with the marshalls leading the way - around the neighborhood, beverage in hand, kids running around with sugar induced power, left me with the thought that perhaps we may actually need a permit for this event. That thought lead to the next which was, if we got a permit the city would know what we were up to, which means that open container discussions would come up leading to well, better leave the permit out of it.... The good news is ... another year, another dodge of the authorities.
This year the group was full of school friends, family friends, new and old neighbors alike and the day was a blast. There were a couple of special guests beside the marshalls, which were: Jimmy's second grade teacher Mr. Davis and his boys came and unbeknownst to us our neighbor Charles, (just learned his name today), was our friend Pete's college landlord! Small world moments continued. The crowd wound down and by 10:00pm we were reminiscing of parades gone by..
Thanks to all for a great day and remember- mark your calenders for 2012, I will warn you all now, next year ....St.Patrick's Day falls on the same day as the parade, ERIN GO 
BRAUGH!!
BRAUGH!!God help us all.....
