Goin' Snakes!

Last Saturday was a blitz of fun, bookended by two looooong days of driving. Man, this country is big.
Friday morning we undertook the drive to Calgary and arrived at Mom's house around 7:00. We had a delish dinner and great chats, as always. I picked up my tap shoes in preparation for my adult tap/jazz class to start next weekend! Wheeeeee! I can't wait.
Saturday was a crazy day. We hung out chez CRs in the morning and then picked up Michael, who had taken the bus down from Edmonton. (It's great having responsible friends live in our old house...worry-free!) Michael and James headed off to play "championship" mini golf with Cory and pals for Cory's birthday, while I went to the Campbell's house for a work bee. Bekki's wedding will be decorated with all kinds of paper treasures, from gorgeous place cards and table numbers to corsages and pew flowers. Our task for the day was gluing wire to the back of magnolia petals. The flowers turn out to be about 10" in diameter...
they are going to look absolutely stunning on the pews. I was a surprise visitor for Bekki, so it was a lot of fun to turn up and help unexpectedly. There remains a lot to be done before the wedding, but such is the way. It was fun to catch up with Aunty Cheryl, Aunty Deb, and Uncle Glen (none of whom I'm related to, of course). As always, there's a lot going on in that family...not only is Bekki getting married, but Jamie (her older brother) is engaged, and both Cheryl and Glen are retiring. Of course, they're the kind of people who'll be busier after they retire than they were while they were working, but I hear that's half the fun.
After the work bee, James and I drove all over the city in search of Brian and Breanne's wedding reception. (For you Calgarians out there, we drove from Scenic Acres to Rocky Ridge or something like that--the NW city limits--got completely lost, and then eventually found our way to Harvest Hills.) Bri and Bre, as we've been calling them, got married on the beach in Mexico last month, and so they were having a party Calgary-style for those who didn't make it (and many of those who did). It was a lovely, relaxed atmosphere with plenty of good catching up to do.
James also put the engineers to work on his birthday present from Brisket, which featured the most complicated wrapping job ever: a wooden box, glued and nailed shut. Fortunately, Steve quickly identified the best course of action, procured the appropriate tools, and was into the box in no time.
We kept the box to wrap Brisket's next present in!
We took an early leave to head to our next engagement, which was a BBQ chez Brisket and Andrea. The whole gang was there, and we were engulfed with hilarity in no time. James and Cory both have birthdays in August, so there were some great presents being exchanged. Of note were Todd's presents: apparently, he wasn't sure what to get either of them. 'I can't just put money in their cards,' he thought to himself. 'That's what their grandparents would do.... hmmmmm...' and the idea struck. So James and Cory were both presented with money inside "To a wonderful Grandson" cards, as well as a roll of Werther's Original to complete the experience. That's some inspired gift-giving, I think.
I ran off a bit early from there (for you Calgarians keeping track, this was in Braeside) to meet Toph and Christopher, who had been doing the Chinook pub crawl (East Side Mario's, then Moxie's). We had a brief but fabulous chat, and then Christopher and I headed off to meet the whole rest of the gang (seriously, there's no other appropriate word for it) to see
SNAKES ON A PLANE!
It was the perfect environment for it--few other people in the theatre but two rows of us, crammed in together. And when Chris and I walked into the theatre, who happened to be there by sheer and utter coincidence but Poonwah!
Poonwah, who had returned from Afghanistan not one week earlier. I had thought he was still in Edmonton, but there he was! I finally got to meet the famous girlfriend, if only for a couple of minutes. SO good to see him, safe and sound, living and breathing.
And as the capper, there was the movie. Oh man, oh man. Moviegoing experiences this fun are very rare. We killed ourselves laughing all the way through, and we all chanted Samuel L.'s famous new line in unison (and cheered after it was said). If you haven't seen it, GO, but go expecting a hollywood parody. A HILARIOUS hollywood parody. (Or is that an hilarious?)
We celebrated as Samuel L. afterwards:

Finally, Jimmy and Michael dropped me off and then went on to Nick's place, where they and the glorious Columbus Blue Jackets won the virtual Stanley Cup for (I think) the third time. It was a raucous video game party from 1 to 5 in the morning, which was the perfect ending to the day.
(Oh, and if you're still mentally mapping, that was Chinook to University Heights to Edgemont. Not to mention the fact that we'd come up from McKenzie the night before. It was basically the Tour de Calgary.)
Sunday morning was church at Prince of Peace followed by brunch in Strathmore with Mr. and Mrs. Cooley. Great classic breakfast food at Smiley's in Strathmore--worth the drive. The Cooleys, in typical generous fashion, sent us off with armloads of fresh venison sausage. Mmmmmm! Michael and his parents then headed up to Edmonton, and Jimmy and I got on the road. Of course, we bought 99cent/L gas in Strathmore--unbelievable that that's what passes for cheap these days; time for a Smart car--and got on the excrutiating road to Regina.
The great thing about travelling on a Sunday was that Jimmy was still wearing his collar.
When we both went in to the gas station, apparently we left a car window open, because we returned to find a bottle of In Kahoots brand marinade and a bottle of hot sauce, plus some literature, courtesy of the guy driving the In Kahoots truck who had just left the gas station. I guess he saw the 'minister' and decided to leave a free sample! Ah, the privileges.
Predictably, the drive back was awfully boring. We did our best, but we were both stir crazy before we'd even crossed the Saskatchewan border, and that's with approximately 4 hours left to drive. I think next time, we'll fly.