Two Pilots & an LSW: Open Houses Galore

It's been a hustle and a bustle, but I think things are finally going to start slowing down again. Not a lot, mind you, because there's still a lot going on, but enough. I can handle our normal summer busy. :)

Thursday I spent running around, and then I had two flights all afternoon. I picked up one of our cakes on Thursday, and stuffed it into our fridge, and the rest all had to be done Friday. I used up a half tank of gas on Friday just running back and forth to everything, which is impressive in the Buick! I'm torn between two things. One, telling you what all I did on Friday, because it's sort of comedic, and two, not, because it's tedious. So I'll just compromise and do a couple snapshot stories. One good thing I did, was when I went to Meijer for the first of three times that day, I also picked up a dress shirt to wear. I am short on dress-up shirts, so I tried on a few, and found one. Kaylee and her friends were impressed with my shirt, and called it 'stylish'. So that was a win. Kaylee's friends Meredith and Caitlin also said, when they saw me walking around with a camera, "Oh good! Laura Stants Photography is here! I love your pictures!" Caitlin asked if I'd follow her around her senior year and take pics for her. I appreciate that.

So, one story--balloons. They were supposed to be ready by noon. I showed up at 11:45, and they hadn't even started them yet. So I sat in my car in the air conditioning for 15 minutes and ate a salad from McCalister's Deli, which I had just left after carting out 16 gallons of sweet tea and lemonade out, three at a time, by myself, into the parking lot. I go back in at 12:01, and they're ready. The lady tells me "It's windy outside, you'd better carry one in each hand so they don't tangle." Good idea, thinks I. It WAS windy, gusting up to 25 knots, and it was especially breezy in front of the building. I walk outside with my 8 balloons, 4 in each hand, and the second I hit the outside, they go crazy, trying to rip out of my hands, whipping around like a tornado. I can't get them in my car. I finally throw the weighted ends into the back seat, and the balloons themselves are poking their heads out, trying to escape, all at once. It's actually a rodeo getting them in there. And I have 6 more batches to get in. I'll short-cut this to say it was a serious trick, and I was having a devil of a time doing it. The last two, I couldn't do it. I couldn't open the car door to get them in without all the others coming out. It was a full-on disaster. Another woman stopped and helped me, and together we got it done. It had to be a comedy of epic proportions to watch. I get in my car door, and they've floated over to meet me. I keep having to whack them out of my way, and I can't see behind me, or to the right. Only in front of me, directly, and to the left.

Next stop was the sheet cake. When I got there, they said it was ready to go...and it was just sitting there. I said "Isn't there a box?" They said no, you just take it like that. I'm like......... what? I said "I have to transport that in my car by myself. People just carry it out like that without a box?" They looked at me like *I* was the crazy one, but I'm sorry, I've never bought a cake in my life that didn't come with a box. They said they don't have a box, and yes, people just carry it out, and it'll be fine. Oooooookay. My back seat sure wasn't going to happen, I barely got in and out of the car myself, so I popped the trunk, arranged some things, and set the cake in the back. I couldn't think of a worse idea than me driving around with an expensive large unprotected sheet cake in my trunk, but I didn't have any other choice. I drove like Grandpa Jones straight out to the airport, foregoing my other errands, to get it there asap and hopefully in one piece. It did arrive safely, somehow.

I had to go back out to Meijer (stop #2) to pick up the vegetables and fruit, and I picked up some fresh flowers to put in the jars. I wasn't sure which ones I'd get until I saw the little tiny yellow and white flowers, and some baby breath, and I thought that looked pretty. I also had to come home again to pick up my J Edwards cake and some tools, and take all that out to the airport. Ann and Kaylee and Steve and the guys were setting up and getting everything ready. Kaylee did a great job with her boards, and her tables. They looked really good. Artistic, well-organized, lots of good stuff on there.

The event started at 2. We weren't quite ready at 2, and yet some people showed up right at 2. Eek. Our food worker who was supposed to set all that up and get it ready, didn't show up until 2:20 or so, so Steve and I were running around trying to get everything we thought would be done but wasn't, done. Then things kicked in. People would drive in and park in the big lot, and then we had a brigade of golf carts to run and pick people up and bring them through the gate and up to the hangar. Most people really thought that was cool. Holly got mad because it messed up her hair and she just wanted to drive straight up to the hangar because her dad owns it, but everyone else enjoyed it. :D

People came, and Kaylee really appreciated it. The airport people came out, her friends came out, a few of her teachers came out, our friends came out, and it stayed well-populated, and that was her biggest concern, that it would get "dead". It didn't, and in fact it ran about 20-30 minutes after it was scheduled to end, so that was successful.

The winds created a couple issues for us. I couldn't do Cub rides for sure, and it was sand bagged to keep it down and secure out in front of the hangar, because it was blowing around so hard. We couldn't set the props out by it for the photos, and people getting their picture taken out there got blown away by the wind, which most girls don't appreciate, so not everyone did photos, and we didn't push it much, which we would have done if it had been indoors, or calmer. The wind also blew our decorations around. The little suitcases went tumbling a few times, and on one table we couldn't even keep a big mason jar, with water in it, from knocking over in the wind! That's some real wind, people! :) It also knocked over one of her trifold boards, heavy, back in the middle of the hangar, and broke a picture frame. But we fixed the board tipping over with a broomstick and some tape from behind, and will fix the frame shortly. The cakes weren't what I envisioned, but in the end, it really didn't matter, they were really tasty.

The day ended up being really nice. The sun was shining, the door was open, it was super relaxed and laid-back, and people were really blown away by being at an airport. Kaylee's director, Mrs. E, told us she took pictures and told her friends about the airplanes and airport and how totally cool it was, and how cool the golf cart ride in and out was. She goes to dozens, and dozens of these every year, and this was memorable for her, which is neat. A lot of other people not from the aviation community said the same thing. They loved the golf cart chauffeurs and they loved the hangar, airplanes, etc. I heard another kid today "grading" people's open houses, which was super annoying to be honest. But he did say "Kaylee is #1 for best venue category". I told her that, and she said "I don't care, it's gross that he's grading people's open houses and comparing them when it's just supposed to be about their day with their family and friends, and not some competition." I like her a lot.

Afterwards we cleaned up some things, while Kaylee ran to another girl's open house, and then she went home and a few of the guys and I went to Half Moon for a late dinner. It was 11 pm when Kaylee texted me at the restaurant and said I should go to Meijer to pick up a gift for Meredith's open house tomorrow. I was very grumpy about this. I was exhausted, truly exhausted. I just wanted to pass out. But she wasn't wrong, Meredith's family had gotten Kaylee a nice gift, and we were going to her open house the next day, and we just had a card. So I went, (Meijer Trip #3 of the day), and picked up a couple things for Meredith. Got home after midnight again.

Saturday morning, Steve was back out at the airport by 8:30 am, and we had a Young Eagles event. We used left over food from the open house to feed the volunteers. I brought in donuts at 10:30, and then we were there the rest of the day with one break. I took a bunch of photos of the event, airplanes and kids, and it went fine. We had 38 kids get official rides. We were hoping for a little more than that, but not as many as said they were interested on Facebook, which was 450. So it worked out fine. We had to leave early to go to Meredith's open house, where we stayed for a reasonable amount of time considering how much time they spent at ours. Kaylee said Meredith said she was proud of us for staying that long and talking to her parents. She knows I'm not social or a party person. lol From there we were back at the airport, finishing up the day's events, doing a little cleaning up, all that good stuff.

Today we spent at Open Houses. After I picked up Ann from church and made a couple quick stops on the way home, we got ready and went to Morgan's open house. Took Ann home and then Steve and Kaylee and I went to two more open houses, and we didn't get home until almost 7 pm. Long day after long day after long day, but it was the right thing to do, because their families had come to ours, and you know what it's like throwing a party and hoping people come. Quid pro quo, man. One of them I was really glad we went to, because there weren't many people there at all, and we got to sit with Mrs. E, who was following us around at all these, and talk for quite awhile. It was all good, just long. And Kaylee and her friends have been doing this every Friday, Saturday and Sunday for 2-3 weeks, doing open houses from morning to evening, one after the other, sometimes as many as six in a day. Eye Carumba. No wonder she's been coming home and passing out. It really is exhausting!

Tonight we had a long talk about faith, and life, and spirituality, and churches, and cults, and all sorts of stuff. We always enjoy long talks with her. She came up to me and hugged me and said "You don't smell like you, you smell like dad." I had just pulled on what I thought was my t-shirt, but when I smelled the front, I saw what she meant, it was his like beard product smell. She said "Change your shirt, I want you to smell like my mom." So I did, and then she curled up next to me on the couch for awhile. We'll miss all of that, soon enough.

I have So. Many. Pictures. You probably saw them on Facebook. Kaylee complimented me on my photo of the table decorations, said it looked professional. Why, thank you. :)