On the "West" Side

Most of my family lives on the west coast of lower Michigan, so a party was thrown by my sister, Polly, and brother and sister-in-law, Dennis and Trisha, for Cynthia at Polly's house in Grand Haven, MI. All but one of my living siblings made it to the party and the one that didn't make it was represented by his lovely wife, Shelley, and daughter, Jerrilyn. A huge vanilla cake with lemon pudding filling and lemon, cream cheese frosting, cheesy bread sticks, heaping pizza's, a variety of pasta salads, lemonade, iced tea, juice, soda, etc. The kids climbed up and down trees, played badmiton, adults told stories from the days of yore.
Maize and Cassie were so excited about their gift for Cynthia that they rushed me right out to the backyard to whisper in my ear, "It's a Care Bear, "Lots of Art" Bear and it smells like tutti frutti.
Since Dennis' birthday is today, I brought a surprise to the party for him. A Care Bear cake - Michigan Bear. Maize colored frosting with a navy block "M" on his white tummy.
After the party, Polly, Tim, Crystal, Steven, Dennis, Maize, Trisha, Cassie, Greg, Cynthia and I took in "Cars" a Pixar film. Loaded with tubs of popcorn and sodas we filled three rows in an almost empty theatre. Who started throwing popcorn? We can't be sure but I was shaking large, ichy, white lumps out of my blouse the rest of the evening.
Once back at Polly's they cranked up the jacuzzi and we talked until the pale hours of morning and then wandered off to various rooms to catch a bit of sleep before starting part 2 of our visit.
Macaroni salad, penne pasta salad, potato salad, turkey rolls, cold pizza and cake was loaded into cars and brought to my childhood home.
Exhausted, we filled our mugs with coffee and the car with gas and headed back to our Dexter home. Happy.