I Kinda Blew Up The Grill...

You see, I like to make a quick-grill porkchop recipe that involves boiling the chops in a container full of a marinade that I make up. This means that the loaded glassware baking tray is placed in the grill and allowed to heat up to about 500 degrees for about 15 minutes, then I take the porkchops out of the glass container and flash-grill them for a couple of minutes at this high heat. Usually, this all works out real nice and the chops taste great.

Unfortunately though, things didn't quite work out as planned last night, because after I finished grilling the chops, I put them on a plate and took them into the house. Then, I came back out to take the glass container out of the grill, but when I picked it up with a pair of pot holders, one of them had a loop that got hooked on the rotisserie opening. So, I had to place the glass tray back on the grill and when it touched the surface, it kind of... exploded!

Here are the pictures of the mayhem that occured.

I think the reason the glassware shattered was because big raindrops were coming down while I was taking it out of the grill and maybe one or two drops hit the glass container and that's why it went "POP!"...

Karen Gets A Haircut

She hasn't had her hair cut since 2003 and it came out great. But don't take my word for it, have a look for yourself...

So, she brought in a photo of how she would like her hair to be styled and Danny took out the scissors.

Yeah, she's keeping a watchful eye on Danny as he prepares to remove some of the length.

And I mean a WATCHFUL eye...

When the big snip occured, it was like she was in pain.

Don't believe me? Here's a closer look at the 'moment of snip'.

And here is an even closer view. Yeah, she 'felt' that one.

And here is the moment after. It doesn't look to be all that bad.

But of course, a few more inches will need to be removed to get the styling just right.

So, Danny sets to work...

And Karen puts on her 'brave face'.

But eventually, reality sets in that yes, her hair is much shorter than it has been in several years and apparently, Luann's snapping away with the camera can get VERY annoying (but then we wouldn't have these cool pictures).

Ah, it has really taken shape and Danny is working out the final touches.

Yeah, I think her new hair style is a great success.

Look at that smile!

Afterwards, we stopped off at a little Korean restaurant for lunch and Luann took a picture of Karen after I said she reminds me a bit of Tina Louise.

So, she finally did it. She had her hair reduced in length and had it re-styled. Looks like she's got a new attitude!

Elena Has Her Dance Competition

Here is Elena after the first stage of the competition. She told us that she had won 2 first place awards and 1 second place too.

Here's a picture of the ballroom that the competition was held in.

And here is the other side.

After we had talked, Elena and her dance partner warmed up in preparation of the next session in the competition.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to see the second half of the competition to see how well she did.

Happy Birthday Luann

As we have been doing since we had my 40th birthday party go very wrong a couple of years ago, we didn't focus too hard on Luann becoming yet another year older. We both agreed that when we do things to celebrate our birthdays, things always seem to go bad, but if we just let things happen naturally, it tends to make for a nicer experience. So instead of being miserable because something we planned so hard for went sour, we worked on being with Karen for her big haircut day and supporting Elena at her dance competition. Besides, now I can suprise Luann with something when she least expects it...

Just because...

A Slice Of Americana...

As we stopped for gas on the way home, we couldn't help but notice this lady on her -Tri-Cycle with her grandson on the buddy seat and her pooch in a harness on her chest.

My dad has been talking about getting one of these bikes, and it was neat to see the ease with which the lady handled herself on this thing.

And it looks like 'Mercy', really enjoys her ride with Grandma.

We were told that Mercy wears the glasses because her eyes dry out during the ride. This whole thing was simply too cute...

Melissa's 18th Birthday

As you can see, we did something a little special for Melissa's birthday.

You see, we set up the party with the bowling alley and didn't tell her family. The only thing I did was tell her parents to be ready to take a trip when I showed up at their house at about 12:30 to take them somewhere. When I did show up at their house, I was wearing my geocaching shirt and my gear, so they though we were going geocaching for Melissa's birthday. Boy, were they surprised when I pulled into the bowling alley!

So here we are and both Melissa and her mother are having at the pins. Nice to have a mother-daughter moment like this. The alley was set up for 'Cyber Bowling' which means they had the DJ working overtime, the black lights were on and the disco balls were twirling (that's what is making the bright light spots on the floor).

In this picture you can see one of the disco balls spinning on the ceiling and the black lights are making everything glow kinda bluish-purple.

And Karen was here too. She helped with taking pictures of the event from a different perspective. You can see the unusual 'cakes' that we made up for Melissa.

You see, when we were shopping for sneakers for Luann at the outlet mall in Orlando (we were there to celebrate our 22nd anniversary, remember), we saw this really cool cake mold in a kitchen supply store. I knew we could get it cheaper back home, so we found a couple of molds at a Micheal's craft store and practiced making large cupcakes and a giant birthday cupcake for Melissa's party.

Hey, wait a minute! Who is trying to grab the cake while Missy was posing for this picture?

Here's another view of the cup cakes. The yellow ones on the left were made with reduced sugar specifically for Melissa's mother. We test-baked quite a few cake mixes and frostings to find something that actually tasted good.

Ah, the man with the hand... so to speak. Yes, it was Melissa's younger brother, Phillip, playing around like he was going to grab the giant cupcake. In this shot he is showing us the bowling pin that we all took turns at signing.

Ok, it's time to get serious, Katrina is breaking out her custom bowling ball with the skull and crossbones on it.

And here is a closeup of Melissa's custom birthday bowling ball. Now you can understand why I called her Missy a couple of pictures ago.

Yeah, I think she likes it. What do you think?

What is neat about this bowling alley is that the house balls aren't simple, monotone balls.

Ah, now you can see the geocaching getup I was wearing. Some people thought I was wearing a bowling league shirt.

There's nothing like a little victory dance when you send those pins spinning.

Or, how about a 3-way dance?

And then, there are other celebratory dances... Like Brad's "I'm having a stroke" dance.

I'm not very sure what is going on in this picture. It almost looks like Katrina dropped her ball on Karen's foot...

Well, it looks like the 2-some has done well on the lanes...

And here is Katrina's "Ballet-Leap" celebration dance. Hmmm... Too weird for me.

It looks like everybody was getting into the act.

And this should be about the time Katrina was appologizing for stepping on Luann's toes...

Melissa's Mom and Dad. I like this picture...

At one point, the kids had to get up and do a line dance. Meanwhile, I went crazy with taking pictures. You never know when 'blackmail' pictures like these might come in handy, ya know?

Uh yeah. You're looking suave and debonair kids...

And now, a view of their best side...

Well, now that the line dancing was over with, it was time for the birthday song. Apparently, we didn't do so well with that, but did try our best. Next, it was time to pass out the cupcakes. It was actually quite a bit easier than cutting up a big cake and making a mess of things. The best part is that Melissa was able to take the giant cupcake home (intact) and share it with her other family members that couldn't make it to the party.

Well, this was really fun and I'm glad everything worked out as planned. And look, they're still smiling!
Good night everybody!