Corona Family Weekend

My family has been needing a new family portrait for awhile. We haven't done any professional photos as a family in 15 years, and we've had a couple of additions since then. Since Bro, V and Brady are going to be moving to a way hot state soon, I figured that we should take our pictures before that happens. I was able to find a photographer local to Bro on the internet, and really liked the natural look of the photos in her online gallery. She seems to use a lot of outdoor shots, and since Bro, V, and Brady are outdoorsy types, I thought that this would be the right fit for us.

I didn't really want our photos to be very casual, so we all got prettied up and met Sharon, our photographer at a park near Bro's house. Sharon had checked out the park a few days beforehand to make sure that it would be a good place to shoot. The park was nice and quiet, and it wasn't very hot yet, so we were able to get our pics done without too much sweating, which was what worried us most, since Brady is like a little heater unto himself. Sharon did a great job of getting us to feel relaxed, and Brady, as usual, was a charmer and smiled well for the camera most of the time. At times, we had to bribe him, but as long as we get good results, we'll be happy. We'll probably get to see the photos by the end of this week, so I'm really looking forward to that.

Mom and Dad had an appointment to attend, so the rest of us went to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. Several years ago, Bro, V, our friend Chun and I discovered this restaurant on a DCI trip to Buffalo, NY. We had also gone to the original buffalo wings place, Anchor Bar, but the neighborhood around Anchor Bar didn't give us the safest feeling, so when we found this place in a nice area, we made sure to return later in the week. Besides, they had Loganberry Juice available there, and we were addicted to it. First, though, we went to Bed, Bath and Beyond for some items, and as we were leaving, Bro noticed that two of his buttons had popped off his shirt because he had been carrying Brady around. The two buttons were at the level of his belly button, so when he sat down, the shirt opened up to show his navelness. We couldn't find a safety pin, and Bro didn't want us to go BUY a box of safety pins, so he McGyvered my paperclip so that it would hold his shirt closed. We could not stop laughing at how ridiculous the whole ordeal was, because he wouldn't just let us go buy a shirt or a safety pin. The paperclip held on pretty well, BTW.

Our memories of BWW in Buffalo were really just of the great wings, the loganberry juice, and the fact that we played trivia games. We were excited to see that BWW had made its way out West, and made a pact that we would go there before they move. We were happily surprised that BWW has really grown into quite the franchise. In fact, there is one located near Bro's new residence! I guess we'll need to go there when I visit. Anyway, they had much more than wings there: ribs, salads, pulled pork sandwiches, just a bunch of yummy stuff. I ordered the Ribs and Traditional Wings combo with Asian Zing sauce for my wings. (You get to order the sauce in which the wings are spun. Yes, I wrote "spun."). I REALLY liked my wings, and my ribs had a good amount of meat, but a couple of pieces were cut in a way that there were a lot of little bones, so I didn't enjoy them as much as the wings. They did taste good, though. I had also substituted my fries for onion rings, and those were tasty. Bro and V kept raving about the yummy Pulled Pork Slammers. They also enjoyed the teriyaki sauce that came with the Naked Tenders that Brady had, as well as the Wings and Popcorn Shrimp that V ordered. (V also ordered the Asian Zing sauce for her wings). We had asked for the trivia game from the server, and she never brought it out. She also didn't do that great of a job waiting our table, and even gave us the wrong check. There were a LOT of TVs to watch, though, with various sports showing, and some tables had their own fancy contraption that seemed to have some kind of other games (not the trivia game). We enjoyed our food, though, and that's really what mattered in the end. If only they had that Loganberry Juice...

The next day, I went to Bro's house again, to help with some of the packing. When I arrived, Brady was blowing bubbles, so I joined him, and Cadence and Brady had an absolute field day just chasing the bubbles around. Cadence went all nutso about them, and was very tired after about half an hour of that. Brady sweated up a storm. Bro wanted to cook all of the food in the refrigerator before the move, so he grilled up some meat, as well as some onions and mushrooms, which was all quite good. So were the scallops that V had sauteed with butter and garlic. Just YUM! To earn my meal, I dismantled Brady's train table, with his assistance. "Oh, more!" he kept saying as I handed him more hardware to place in the bag. At one point, I gave him a slab of wood that weighed a little more than the other pieces, and I heard him grunting. I asked him if it was heavy, and he said in his cute way, "Yeah!" (Like, "Duh, Tita, why'd you give me such a big piece?!").

We went to Pasta Pomodoro, for dinner, and basically ate tapas-style, because we weren't incredibly hungry after all of the grilled stuff. When I noted that I'd be ordering the Ravioli di Zucca (butternut squash), Bro and V got all big-eyed, and said that they wanted to get in on some of that action. So we ordered that, the caprese, and the Cavolini. This is when I learned that V liked Brussels Sprouts, which should make a certain person smile when she reads this. Bro likes them, too, btw. We really enjoyed the ravioli and the cavolini. The caprese was OK, but the tomatoes were small, and it needed more balsamic vinegar or something, as it was a tad bland. We had also ordered soups and salad. Bro enjoyed his tortellini soup almost as much as Brady did, and I liked my minestrone. I was surprised that it wasn't really a tomato base, but it was still good. I think that V had the Mista salad, and I think she liked it, but I don't really remember because we kept talking about all of the other stuff.

Full and tired, we went back to the house, and I stayed for a little while before getting on over to my own residence. I'm sad that I won't be hanging out there anymore, playing Rock Band and watching Brady get knocked over by Cadence and Presto (AKA "Stocky P"). I'll sure miss that place.

Thanks, everyone, for a fun-filled family weekend. Whenever I see a shirt missing its buttons, Bro, I'll think of you and that paper clip. :)