The Epic Family Weekend of All Things Fun and Wonderful

Hello friends. Here I am. I was buried under a pile of things, namely work, but also a little thing called "I have no words." But, today is Friday and the weekend is mere hours away and somehow my words have found me again.

You lucky thing, you.

Let me begin by saying that this upcoming weekend could be the most epic of weekends in my family's history.

It could be bigger than the time we all decided to go white water rafting and almost got stuck in the swirling vortex that is called "Sydel's Suck Hole."

It could be bigger than the time we got lost in east St. Louis at night.

And it could be bigger than the time when we all got up and sang "OKLAHOMA" in front of strangers.

This weekend is going to be epic because we are celebrating Father's Day, my mom's birthday, Claire's birthday and we are kicking off the FIRST ANNUAL PUTT PUTT CHALLENGE.

Oh, and my dad will be home.

CAN YOU FREAKING BELIEVE IT!? I bet you can feel the anticipation of all the joy that will be had.

(I am sorry about all the all-caps letters. I have some pent-up excitement.)

(YES I DO.)

The birthdays and Father's day are fairly self-explanatory: cake, presents, hats, frolicking, napping and an overall good amount of cheer. But the putt putt challenge? Well that is a different thing entirely. And do you know why? It is because we are making our own putt putt course. In our yard. With our hands. And probably a good amount of duct tape.

Each of us has to come up with our own hole. Whoever has the best hole wins a big shiny prize.

This week has been all about strategy. Various sketches have been drawn, materials have been collected, sweat has been poured and trash-talk has been spewed. Saturday, we will tackle our individual holes, whether simple or elaborate, for the big tournament on Sunday.

Oh, and you have to name your hole. That could be the best part.

The good part about this challenge is that we are all on a level playing field. None of us are engineers or carpenters. The bad part about this challenge is that I am not an engineer or a carpenter. You can pretty much guarantee that a hot glue gun and stickers will be used to hold mine together.

So, if you have any ideas or suggestions about constructing your own miniature golf hole, feel free to pass them along. Or if you have an idea for a cool theme song, let me know. I am all about psyching out my competition, and I am pretty sure my 8 year-old nephew is the one to beat this year.

That little punk.


And with that thought, happiest of Fridays, people of the internet!