Coco's Party

My great-grandma Coco's  party was really fun. I went to give Coco her card I made for her, and she didn't recognize me. I explained who I was, and this is what she said:  "Oh, yes, the last time I saw you was when you were just a baby. You've grown so big... Oh, you look so precious."

The last time she saw me was last year, at her ninety-eighth birthday. Or was it Thanksgiving? Hm. Dunno. But it was recently. She hasn't forgotten me before... It makes me sort of sad. But then again, she's ninety-nine, so what do you expect? At least she appreciated my being there. She said she wants me to be at her next birthday party. I sure hope she has a next one. I don't know how much longer she'll last. 

My aunts and Grandma Maddie call her "our queen mother" and "angel on earth". She deserves to be called that, and it's a sweet thing to say. I call her "really really old". 

When she gave a speech, she forgot he age. "I'm so thankful that all my children, grand children, and my great-grandchildren could all be here, to celebrate my seventy-seventh birthday-" she began. 

"No," everyone said. "Ninety-nine!" 

"Ninety-nine!" she repeated, "Imagine that!" 

We laughed. 

My Grandpa Wayne gave his speech and then started to sing "99 bottles of beer on the wall". We passed bottles of root beer to all of the guests and I got nearly the whole song on film. It lasted awhile. 

Coco forgot that she was ninety-nine once again after that. She got the last bottle of root beer. 

We had to have family pictures. It was miserable!  I was soaked in warm, salty sweat. Everyone was. One of my relatives held something up to Coco's face so that the sunlight wouldn't totally blind her. I played basketball for a few minutes with Winston, Ethan, and my dad. Maddie came with Leigha to get us for more pictures. Ethan and Leigha and I posed around dad as he sat in a hard chair. At least they took that picture in a shady place. 

Yep, my annoying cousin JD was at the party.

I noticed that when we were hitting the pinatas JD would hold it in place for members of his close family. He was in charge of the rope. 

When his extended family (my family) came up to hit the pinatas (sorry, I can't figure out how to use the correct punctuation on the computer), he raised and lowered them, like he was supposed to. Cora and I consulted him about this and he denied his unfairness. This caused me to not be able to hit one. Have I ever told you that I have never hit a pinata before? They break before I get a chance. 

Later I played a sort of army game with Winston, Ethan, Anna, and Maddie. Winston was Lieutenant, Ethan was Second Lieutenant, Maddie was the medic and Anna and I were privates. We ran through the sprinklers (well, we were trying to avoid them) and pretended that they were machine guns preventing aircraft to land in that area. There was a path made by lawn mower wheels, and we called that a safe path to travel on. We said that there were land mines beyond the boundaries of the path. Even though we were avoiding the water, it was refreshing in the scorching heat to get sprayed. When we did get "injured", we lay down on the damp grass while Maddie patted us. She was "bandaging" us. 

We were in a baseball field. We went up the cement ramp to the one place where the one guy announces the points and stuff. My dad was chasing us through the sprinklers. We screamed. Dad grabbed Ethan an wrestled him on the ground. "Second Lieutenant's been captured!" we screamed into the dark. Once my dad had released Ethan, Winston told him he could be Major. 

We ran back through the water and back to Grandma's party.  

When it was all over Winston came home with us while Leigha stayed with Maddie and Anna's family. We played Super Mario Strikers until 3 a.m., that's when I  went to sleep. As far as I'm concerned, Ethan and Winston stayed up 'till four. 

The next day we had a family reunion that only my close family came to. Not that JD kid.It was in the mountains in Utah. I loved the scenery, but unfortunately, I have none of that on tape. I can show a picture of Grandma Coco, though. 

The adults talked in the microphone while the little people played games. I was specified as a little person. I played badminton (sort of) and football (sort of). I only know how to play basketball. 

Winston and Ethan and I went on a hike through the forest. We found poison ivy and sagebrush and poison oak. It was sweet. I think Ethan brushed some poison ivy. 

There was a pretty creek running through the park we were in. My cousin Nora and I dangled our feet in the freezing water. Leigha was there again and I helped her put her feet in, too. 

We played Ultimate Frisbee and it got stuck in a tree. My dad one of my uncles threw rocks at it. Maddie almost got hit on the head. 

I don't think we ever got the frisbee.  

I had a water-fight with Didi and Winston and Ethan. I was on Didi's side. We dumped creek water on them in water bottles and Ethan and Winston used water guns. It got out of hand when our uncle Greg dumped a huge bucket of filthy, muddy, disgusting creek water on Ethan's head. 

Leigha got to stay in Utah because of her clear schedule. Urr, I want to be there, too! On the phone my mom said that I can go after July 15th when rehearsals for Rodeo are almost over and the reading workshop is finished.  It's not fair! Fine, Leigha just can't come next time. If she's nice to me and she doesn't whine when she comes back I might let her. Hmm... Should I or should I not? Maybe... No, I am merciless!!! Muh ha ha!

Ethan screamed out the window of the car, "I hate you, Greg! You suck!!!" when we left. Well, you know, that's his way of expressing himself, and Greg did dump a bucket of muddy water on his head.