Madeline's 5th Birthday party was yesterday. We had a big moon-walk bouncy thing there, which was fun. At 10:30 Saturday morning we weren't sure what we were going to do, because of the rain. Even at 11:30 when they showed up to set-up the moonwalk we were hesitant because of the weather, but in the end, it was great. If you've never been to a Kurt gathering - everyone in my family is there, which means lots of kids, and all my siblings and their spouses. My younger brother Jon was able to hurt one of the kids only 17 minutes into the party! A personal best! On top of that, he ended up giving Madeline's a bloody-nose in the moon-walk. Standard fare for a Kurt party. The moon-walk had this giant butterfly on top of it, and it looked like it needed to be mounted. Kevin took the first shot at it, but forgot to clear kids out before the moon-walk collapsed from his weight. I took the second try, but was a little too heavy for it to support. In the end, Nate was the only one who climbed on and rode the thing for a while. The Heikkinen family was there, and we had a chance to hang out for a while after the party, which was fun. Cathie and I would have a fourth, if we could guarantee it would be a clone of little Jesse Heikkinen. Later that night, on a whim, the kids were still awake, so I broke out the fireworks. I had my camera and tri-pod out and was messing with the shutter-speed in order to get some of these funky pictures. The pack included wooden sparklers, which are bad. Little pieces go flying off as you use them. Apparently Noel had the same experience.
We've got a lazy day of doing nothing tomorrow. I think I'm got strep throat, or some other long-term sore throat thing and after a busy "vacation" we all need a rest.