Last Friday, we celebrated the Bruisers’ softball season with a small party at Teo & Sofia’s house. Pool party, hot tub, BBQ, and drinks. What more could you ask for? We handed out trophies and the kids all had a good time.
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On Tuesday, we had the Bruisers last game of the season. I know I missed a number of games, but that season went fast. I’m glad I was able to make the last game of the season. Despite my misgivings, my wife was right — Lily ended up liking softball, and is a pretty decent player. Watching her get two hits while up at bat, or getting two opposing team players out while playing short stop? Nice feeling to witness. I’m very proud of her.
A special thanks to our three coaches: Jason, Brian, and Lenny. They have the patience of saints.
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Yesterday was Lily’s latest dance recital. Held at Kendall Hall at The College of New Jersey , we had most of the family head on over to see her class perform “This is the Sixties” from the musical Hairspray. Lily did great! Afterwards we took some pictures, then went to DeLorenzo’s Pizza in Hamilton for a pizza lunch.
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Last Tuesday, I took a day off to help out with Lily’s Girl Scout Daisy to Brownie Bridging Ceremony. That’s right, she’s finished her first year of being a Girl Scout, and I think she actually likes it. We had the ceremony in a small meeting room at our local library, with assorted snacks.
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This past Friday night, we met up with neighborhood friends to celebrate Nicole’s birthday. The venue was a fancy Chinese restaurant called Peking Pavilion in Manalapan NJ. We had the kids stay over with my in-laws, which would allow us to keep the revelry going way past reasonable hours. Everyone else had their kids stay elsewhere, so game on.
Unfortunately, I got out of work much later than planned, so I raced home, and Nums got a ride to the restaurant. I showered and changed, and raced to Manalapan. Of course, I was nearly out of gas, so I had to stop briefly at a small gas station, threw $5 cash at the attendant, and peeled out of there. I arrived just as they were all ordering drinks and appetizers, so not bad.
Good time at dinner, and we met up afterwards at Teo & Sofia’s house for drinks, and few rounds of Cards Against Humanity. Good times.
It was a beautiful Memorial Day weekend. The Ipes had no travel plans, and we would be staying around town. It was action-packed. It was fun-filled. It was productive. And it was an opportunity to remember our veterans.
Friday
I covered flag planting with the Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts in an earlier post.
Saturday
On Saturday, besides Lily’s dance class, we started our garage clean up project. It’s been a project performed in fits and starts and stops for a few months now. The last major attempt was just before the first expected snowstorm and we wanted to get my car parked inside, so we threw nearly everything towards one side. Not a long term solution for sure.
After a few hours, we had a mountain of recycling, plenty of trash, and a realization that we didn’t need to keep most of this stuff. The project wasn’t complete by the end of the day, but we would resume clean up on Monday. We rewarded ourselves with an evening at Six Flags Great Adventure (and no rain in the forecast.) On the line for Nitro, we ran into some neighbors, and we hung out together until nearly the park’s closing time.
Sunday
On Sunday, we got ready to hit the beach in Belmar. It was a toss-up between going Sunday or Monday, but there was a slight chance of rain in Monday’s forecast. So we went Sunday instead.
We drove down to Belmar, got lunch at Surf Taco (hmm, good food), and somehow found parking at the beach along the boardwalk. After paying $6 for parking for the next three hours, and $16 for beach bag fees, we trudged onto the beach to find it windy and a little too cold for comfort.
Yeah, seriously?
Nums didn’t last too long in the wind, so she went back to the warm and toasty car to read. I watched the kids play in the water (ankles only), at the nearby playground, and in the sand. It was a nice day, but way too windy. Around 5 pm, we called it a day, and went home.
Monday
Ooh, a crazy busy day.
In the morning, we had the kids up early and dressed up in the Scout uniforms, and ready to march in the town’s Memorial Day parade. We drove them over to one of the local elementary schools, dropped them off, and drove off to find both a parking spot, and our own spot to watch the parade. After walking for a bit, we found a spot at an intersection in town where other folks we knew were already sitting. From there, it was a good vantage point to watch the parade.
This was Josh’s 2nd time marching, but Lily’s first time. I think they liked it, although Josh complained about all the walking. I had a flashback of marching in my hometown Memorial Day parade, carrying a flag for our elementary school. It’s an important rite of passage to participate in a town parade.
We eventually found the kids after the parade, drove home, and I grilled up burgers and hot dogs for lunch. We started up again on the garage cleanup project — our goal was to finish it completely this weekend. My sister invited us to drive down to her place for lunch and/or dinner, and we wanted to go, but that meant leaving the garage as is. “As is” means being an unfinished mess, so we sadly declined. Come on, we have to finish one project!
We finished cleaning out the garage, for all intents and purposes, around 6 pm. There was quite a lot of trash and recycling by the end. So much we didn’t need to keep and bring to the new house last year, but we had run out of time sorting and packing back then. I still don’t understand the bag of garbage that I found — crumpled up paper and junk. We brought trash with us? At least it was easy to throw away.
Is the garage perfectly clean? No, but tools are organized and hanging on a wall. We found all four corners of the garage, and created a nice pile of stuff to give away or sell, like strollers. I also have 30 cans of old paint that I need a solution for. Once we can get rid of the paint and the yard sale / donate piles, the garage will be in reasonable shape. I’m calling this a win for the Ipes.
We received a late invite to stop by a neighbors’ house for dinner and drinks, so once we were done with the garage, we drove down the street to their house. Other folks came over, and we had a great time drinking mojitos, eating burgers and chicken shish kabobs, and hanging out in the pool and hot tub.
It was a late night, and we sorta paid for it Monday morning, but eh, life is good.
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On Friday, I had a half day, which was nice, and I got home around 4 pm. Many Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts in the area would be meeting up at 4:15 pm at the Brigadier General William C. Doyle Memorial Cemetery, a state-owned cemetary for veterans, to plant flags at 5 pm. I’m not sure where everyone got the same flags, but it was certainly a sight.
Lily went early with her Girl Scout Troop, and I took Josh in my car to the cemetery in Burlington county. It’s a large cemetary, and there was a traffic jam of cars all trying to get in. Josh and I parked on the perifery and ended up hoofing it to the complete other side of the cemetery to where our Pack was assigned. Yeesh.
At 5 pm, they all started planting flags and the Scouts were done in about 20 minutes. After some pictures, most everyone headed home. They had hot dogs for sale but the lines were long. Instead, everyone eventually got home, and I grilled up some dinner.
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Last Sunday, there was some big event at Working Dog Winery in our town. In the morning was the 8th Annual Hair of the Dog 5k Race, starting/ending at the Winery. In the late morning, they hosted the Chesterfest Wine Festival, and folks from all around the neighboring areas came to sample wine, drink wine, and enjoy food from various food trucks. But first, I needed to get some saddle time in. While Namita & the kids went to a birthday party, I went cycling along the back roads. With a short pit stop for a late lunch, included I made the 25 mile round trip to Yardville and back in about 2.5 hours. Just time to shower and get ready for the winery.
The time at the winery was nice — lots of people camped out on the grounds. After 6 pm, with the festival winding down, we all decided to continue festivities with dinner (for 16!) at Tavern at the Lake, one of our local restaurants. We ate outside — one table for the adults, and a separate table for our rambunctious kids. Good times.
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With the new Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) coming out in theaters, we planned our next date night in advance. Kids would sleep over at my parents’ house, and we’d go out for a dinner and a movie.
After work and dropping off the kids to my parents, we got ready and hustled over to Millstone NJ for dinner at Russo’s (formerly Luchento’s.) It was the same decor, same set up, and some of the same menu items. From what I read, it got bought out by a new owner. It’s hard to keep up, but restaurant turnover is huge. Ah well. Dinner was excellent, so I would certainly recommend the place. I couldn’t eat more than 1/3 of my plate of rigatoni and sausage so I packed the rest to go.
Dinner at the new Russo’s
We drove over to the Freehold Raceway Mall to take care of Namita’s returns / exchanges at the Ann Taylor Loft store. Imagine our surprise to find the store closing and mostly bare. With the news of the Lane Bryant parent company buying them out, I’m not surprised.
If we had more time, we would have taken care of more exchanges at Dick’s Sporting Goods near by, but we were running out of time. Even with reserved seats, we didn’t want to be rushed. So we called an end to shopping, and drove over to the theater. With just enough time to grab some overpriced beverages, hit the restrooms, and find our seats, we settled in to watch Pitch Perfect 2 (2015).
Waiting for the film to start, all comfy in our reclining seats
Now, onto the movie itself.
So yeah, I’m sorry, I wasn’t impressed at all. I know, I know. The return of the entire cast from the first film. Writer Kay Cannon (Pitch Perfect, 30 Rock.) Elizabeth Banks’ diectorial debut. The movie didn’t do it for me. What did work for me was the return of the cast, and most of the musical numbers were good.
Unfortunately I had a lot of problems with the plot and the writing. The overall plot was fairly run of the mill — the Bardon Belles must compete on a larger stage in some International competition. Oddly enough, it seemed oddly reminiscent of Karate Kid Part 3. Three years have passed, they have to find themselves before going up against some dominant competitor. Instead of ‘Mike Barnes’, they have to compete against “Das Sound Machine” — a skilled German a capella group.
No, there was no Robin Lively cast as a romantic interest.
The writing was a large obstacle for me. Cheesy, somewhat corny jokes, a trite plot about them finding themselves and their sound. Blah. At one point in the film, the Belles inexplicably receive a mysterious invite to an underground a cappella showdown against other a cappella groups, more or less echoing a key scene from the 1st film. What’s weird is that this takes place in the home of an eccentric millionaire (?) played by comedian David Cross. And the teams include Das Sound Machine. And members of the Green Bay Packers.
Actress Hallie Stansfield is introduced as a new freshman who “has always wanted to be a Barden Belle”, which really makes no sense, except you have a sneaking suspicion that she’s been introduced to support a future Pitch Perfect 3. Blah again.
I don’t know if this film is a rental or a wait-for-it-on-cable-tv type film, but it’s nothing really special.
Regardless of the disappointing movie, I had a good time with excellent company.
Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)
Gym class in the morning? Check.
Helping out at Hugs for Brady 5K run on behalf of church in the afternoon, albeit briefly? Double check.
An evening at Six Flags Great Adventure, plus a surprise meet-up with neighborhood friends the Brian, Nicole, and their girls? And dessert at a local Dairy Queen after braving the heavy downpour? Check!
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