Labor Day

For Labor Day we all spent the evening at Jess and Ross's apartment. They grilled out hamburgers and we let them while devouring Jessica's guacamole. It was like a Disney movie where all the animals are ravenously eyeing each other as they surround the last drops in the disappearing watering hole. Personally I had made the wise decision of eating those ready made chicken salad lunches where they give you a can of salad and like five crackers. At the time I wasn't hungry but by the time we made it to the guacamole, I literally could think of nothing but getting as much food into me as quickly as possible. Thinking that my jitters were from not enough sugar, I slyly grabbed a cupcake that Jess had made for dessert and took off for the bathroom. So, there I sat on the toilet, tearing my cupcake into pieces for the two little boys who had followed the blur of chocolate into the bathroom with me. It's like they have a radar. Or, you know, the sense to notice an adult running through the room with baked goods...

After dinner and my second cupcake, we all headed out to the tennis courts to just goof around. Papa was tossing tennis balls for Joshy to hit with the racket. Ben was dragging the second racket, as tall as he was, around the court with balls in hand. John and I were discovering that we are woefully bad at the game of HORSE. I think I was a HOR by the third set of shots. Jessica was pulling shots out of nowhere. Although, she has an unfair advantage in strength. She is just unnaturally strong. When she later went to return the tennis ball, what looked like a gentle swing rocketed the ball up and out of the court and into the parking lot a good 20 feet away. Her first whack at a golf ball was a 125 yard drive down the fairway. Entirely aggravating in a "I am so proud of you" sort of way.

As we were wrapping up the evening, Jess called us all to do group pictures and being in the extraordinarily good mood we all were, we all said "sure" when she thought it would be fun to take a picture of us while we simultaneously lept into the air. I say lept because it sounds more graceful and as though it involves less of those verbal assists your brain is convinced will get you just that much higher. Yes, they look amazingly synchronized and yes, Jess and Tina took ten minutes deciding on whether we bend down or jump on three. Still, I have got to say. Papa got some impressive air.