Wohoo!
-Kool and the Gang

my cousin maddie celebrated her birthday last saturday. party time. it was supposed to be a rather formal event, and i had dressy outfit lined up. but they called to say they nixed the idea, and i was more than happy to ditch the heels.
people at the party when we got there: maddie's family - tito max, tita nadine, and her younger brother TJ. her other cousins, from her dad's side were there (i'm from her cousin on her mom's side). i had met them at the easter party last week - one guy, three girls, and they were with their parents. there was a father and his three girls who were living with them at the time (maddie's family rents out their spare room). there were our other cousins - nicole and her brother ziggy. and i met morgan, maddie's bestie.
just as i had greeted everyone, nick, maddie's boyfriend shows up. hey, i get to shake hands with the big guy! cool. he and maddie were sweet together. but not too sweet. just right. haha. nick had to leave soon though coz he had business to attend to. school play.
then jada walks in. last time she saw me was last time i was in the states. eleven years ago. now, she's married and has a kid who's almost two.
first agenda: eat. food was great. not surprisingly. i have not had a bad meal ever since i got here. i sat with nicole and jada, laughing over memories of when i wished a was a dog.
after the meal, nicole and i drove to the metro station to pick up taisa. taisa is jada's sister. we brought her back to the party.
when i got back, three of maddie's other guy friends had arrived. they were playing knockout in the back yard. i joined in. kicked some ass too.
we got tired of that game, and began playing a combination of volleyball, soccer and tap in the front yard. when we got tired of playing, we just sat on the grass, blew dandelions into the wind, and talked.
the three girls who were boarding with them and the older girl cousin went off to the park. me, maddie, morgan, and the two younger girl cousins decided to follow suit, but we went to a different park. and we stayed there exchanging stories about school, home, and life. pretty soon we saw tj and the boys had followed us and they busied themselves on the basketball court. then abby, another friend of theirs showed up. but she disappeared just as soon. we suddenly took note of these howling sounds.
morgan: damn cayotes.
me: you dont have cayotes here.
maddie: morgan... thats your family screaming.
it was morgan's seven siblings making noise. and it was getting closer. abby then turned up again. and she had lured the seven to follow her, much to morgan's dismay. but we didnt let it get to us. tj then went home to order pizza, and maddie followed her with stephanie (one of the younger girl cousins) to go to the bathroom. which left me and morgan talking. mostly about her family. and boys. after quite some time, tj had already returned, and we were beginning to wonder why the others hadnt come back. we decided to go check on them.
tj: hey, where are you two going?
me: to see if maddie needs help going to the bathroom!
morgan: *laughs*
well, we met maddie and steph on the way, and they had taisa with them. we made our way back to the park. we talked. well they did most of the talking. i just listened and shot in a smart comment every now and then. the topic being boys. nyaha. we noted is was almost 10pm, and decided to go home. just as we had gotten up, the pizza arrived. so we grabbed some slices then headed back. the walk was mostly uneventful, except for stephanie being chased around by her older sister. they were making us dizzy. as a solution, i grabbed steph, turned her upside down and held her by her ankles for a while. we grinned as she squirmed in my grasp for a minute. then i put her down, and as compensation carried her on my back the rest of the way. at the house, the guests said goodbye and left. maddie hung out with the three girls, while i watched tj play counterstike. his game ended with him killing his own teammates. then maddie lead me up to her room, and we both fell alseep right away.

next day, we woke up at the same time too, at quarter to 10. but neither of us wanted to get outta bed. but we had to coz there was mass to attend.
me: *with my hand draped over my eyes* dibs on the first bath?
maddie: *groans*
me: aight, i'll do it. i'll wake you again when i'm done. *hauls self outta bed*
i showered, then returned to the room to haul maddie outta bed and shove her into the shower. while she was in there, i looked around the room. i realized maddie and i were almost complete opposites. funny we got along so well. we ate breakfast together, and prepped for church. tj was serving so we had to be there early. i learned that last time he served, he had dropped the candle.
tita nadine: tj, try to avoid burning down the church this time, ok?
tj: yeah, yeah.
at church, we met up with their cousins again. and guess who else we saw, much to maddie's delight.
maddie: *looking around the church*
me: *points with my thumb* he's over there.
maddie: *looks to where i'm pointing, sees nick, turns back to me, giggles*
me: *chuckles*
mass went by pretty quickly. we went home for lunch. and lunch equalled cheese sandwiches, ice cream, chocolate cake, sansrival, and chocolate wafers. something missing though...
me: *comes outta the kitchen for the second time, grinning* who needs meat!?
maddie: ...beija, you're awesome.
me: why thank you, cuz. *laughs*
after lunch, maddie, tj, josh (the guy cousin), nick and i were gonna see a show. it was being staged by maddie's former school. it was called blast. it was basically just students doing covers of popular songs. so we went. and maddie saw quite a few dear old friends. reunions are fun.
after the show, tita nadine picked us up, and we headed for a pizza place. all you can eat buffet. translation: heaven on earth! tito max arrived, along with the rest of their cousins, and the boarding family. we occupied a long table and made noise. there was a section in the back for playing arcade games. after having our fill, we played air hockey. tj got matched up with pia (one of the three girls). he was so confident he'd win. he lost 3 to 7.
me: *grins* you are never gonna hear the end of this.
tj: ugh...
then we headed back to the house, shot a few hoops, then tito max drove me back to tita malaine's place.

back home, i sat on the carpeted floor by the sliding door, looking out, and repalying some of songs from blast in my head.