Wednesday, October 29, 2014

The Neighbors

Every year since we moved to our little cul-de-sac, we have had a block party. This is how we became good friends with several of our neighbors. 
 The party is always on a Sunday in August and starts at noon. We put out tents to cover our food and set up games for us and the kids.
Last year is the first year I actually took pictures at our block party and looking back on it, everyone seems so much younger.
 
 This is Mark & Jaque. They are to our immediate left and they are also the neighbors who stuck the for sale sign in our yard while we were away on vacation. Don't let their innocent/sweet smiles fool you. Every few weeks, we have "Happy Hour" with these neighbors and...
 Dave & Jodie. (the other happy hour neighbors).  Dave & Jodie were gone on vacation the same week that we were, and also had a for sale sign in their yard thanks to the 
 The  Neighbors a few houses down, Greg & Christie have a son named Zach who is a few years older than Dawson. They play on the trampoline at George & Jane's house, the neighbors to our immediate right. 
 This is Jane on the right who has the trampoline. Jess is the neighbor who owns the Jeep you see in the background. She and her husband Eric have Gabe who is six months older than Evan but we don't see them that often, they are busy. But they love corn hole!
Christie's husband Greg, and Jess's husband Eric. I actually kicked both butts this year at corn hole. Not that I want to brag. Yes, I want to brag.
 You can see my neighbor Carol holding her granddaughter Katelyn. Katelyn is only 2 weeks younger than Evan. A marriage has not been arranged at this point. Carol and I try to get together at least once a week -she will usually come to my house for coffee, or we will go shopping at Goodwill or the Arc. I love her to pieces. 
 I'm throwing this picture in because my hair doesn't look this way any more.
 Katelyn and Evan get along when they're not fighting.
 The kids all play on the slip n slide and us parents rarely see the kids until the day is finally over and we've all cleaned up and gone inside. Not that we complain.
 Sometimes Jason thinks he's king of corn hole, but we really know that I am. 
 I would like to take the time to mention that this neighborly love is a night and day difference from the neighborhood we lived in back in Indiana. One sold steak from a truck. Another one flashed a strobe light in his window at all hours of the day in order to perturb another neighbor he didn't like. Another neighbor rode his 4-wheeler in our back yard right outside of Dawson's room at 2:00 in the morning while drunk and when Jason went outside to tell him that it was not okay to be doing that, the guy was filming himself and said "hey, dude, you'll be on youtube". That is dysfunction people. 
As a result of the friendships we've made with some of our neighbors, we have actually gone places with them. GASP! 
But before I can get to that, I have to show you this picture of Evan. I recently found Dawson's old plastic potty training underwear...
 
 Mark and Jaque are Catholic and they invited us and Dave and Jodie to a wine tasting they were having at their church carnival. 
 I have never, ever been to a wine tasting before and I typically despise the taste of wine, as long as it's red or white and smells like wet dog.
But Jason and I went along anyway, because we enjoy these neighbors.
 Dave and Jodie are wine connoisseurs. They swish and savor and all that crap when they drink wine. So they had quite the experience when they discovered that I'm basically anti-wine and there was a lot of spitting involved on my part. As you can see at the bottom of this picture, Jason and I bought a fruit and cheese plate to go along with our wine, so that people would assume we are fancy and not redneck.
 I made Jodie take the picture again because usually by picture number 54 I look less dorky.
 Dawson was with Dave & Jodie's daughter Brooke. They got a wrist band that allowed them unlimited access to all the rides at the carnival. Poor Evan was stuck with us. 
 But we took him to ride a few things.

 Dawson has no fear and will most likely grow up and live at Cedar Point.
As our wine tasting/carnival riding day came to a close, I did find myself enjoying the taste of one wine (which I found out during the course of the taste that I was not supposed to describe the wines I tasted with words like "crap" or "eww!" but rather, I should simply put a smiley face :) or a frown :(. One particular wine was called something or other "Moscato" and was sweet as fruit juice. So it passed.
I'm thankful for friendly neighbors.
And for Moscato.

1 comment:

Pink Ponsonby said...

Yep. Moscato. It's hip, and Delish! And from now on you can just say, "I prefer the sweet whites, thank you." You will also like Gewertsdemener or however it's spelled. It's a GERMAN sweet white. VERY fruity. With an overtone of 3 cups of sugar.