Aaron Martina is an Florida based programmer and an international man of mystery. Well, he's not all that mysterious but he does travel the world now and then taking photos, eating interesting foods and diving the depths.

Post party thoughts

Well the baby shower/BBQ was a real hit. There were about 15 people that showed up and we all had a good time, well at least I hope we all did. Mary Jane and Aaron showed up sometime between 10 and 11 am to get things organized. Aaron and I left to meet up with Bill to get a table and chairs from Bill's church so that people would have a place to sit. After bringing those back to my house I started doing a bit of last minute organizing before the guests were supposed to arrive. Aaron left again to get some last minute party supplies and MJ slaved away in the kitchen doing final prepartions on the food. I was under the impression that the party was going to start at 2pm but after re-validating the start time on the eVite website I found out that I was wrong. In any event, Aaron returned to the house with a helium tank, balloons and some supplies for the party games. Aaron's sister, Ana Lee, arrived to help out and we three blew up balloons. Skipping ahead in time. The guests started to show up starting with a couple of Shannon's friends from school who none of us had met before. I think their names were Nicky and Lisa. They both seemed somewhat shy. The Raglands, Chris, Mindy and Sarah, showed up next followed by the Cameaus, Hans and Martine. The party was starting to get lively. I started the grill up and prepped the chicken for cooking. The heat outside was very close to 100F and standing next to the grill in that heat was almost unbearable. The guests of honor, Shannon and Bill, arrived (they had actually arrived earlier but were sent away until some final preparations were completed). Very shortly after the Lee-Anavi clan, Jason and Fiona, arrived followed by Jeff Welch. Now the party was in full swing.

The chicken was grilling. People were chatting and laughing. It was a good time had by all. I would go outside to check on the chicken and people would follow me out. But it was too darn hot outside so I kept ordering them to go back inside and enjoy the shade and A/C. I guess everyone felt sorry that I was stuck out in the heat cooking but I tried my best not to stay outside for more than a couple of minutes at a time. We had chicken that was marinated in garlic and lemon or BBQ both of which seemed great. I moved the chicken to the top rack of the grill and put as many burgers on the bottom rack as could fit. As the burgers began to finish, I brought the chicken in and some of the burgers and notified everyone that lunch was ready. Expecting a mad dash to where the food was I was kind of disappointed when only a few people got up and headed toward the grub. Slowly people started to migrate toward the food and the complements flowed forth. I returned to my grilling duties and finished off the hamburgers. The food was good. MJ really did a great job getting everything prepared and laid out. I grabbed a plate and loaded it with food. I had a fairly difficult time eating from a paper plate while sitting in a chair without the assistance of a table.

After everyone finished eating, MJ gathered us into the great room for some party games. For the first game, MJ and Aaron passed out a stick of gum to each of us with instructions to sculpt a baby from the chewed up gum which Shannon would judge. Shannon chose Jason's due to the creativity in using the wrapper as bushkin. The next game was a word scramble. I am horrible at such puzzles so I didn't participate. Instead I hung with MJ in the kitchen while she prepared the final game. I don't remember who won that game. The final game was the best. It was called "What did Daddy feed the baby?" Basically, there are 5 diapers each of which has a smear of melted candy bar inside. The job of the contestants is to determine what kind of candy bar is in each diaper. The looks on people's faces when they openned up the diapers was priceless. Ana Lee and Bill took an extra long time looking at the diapers persistent in attempting to win this game. I think they both tied as winners.

Now that the games were over it was time to open presents. There were lots of gifts given to the expectant parents and I felt bad that I hadn't given them anything. Maybe I will get them a gift when it gets closer to the due date. The party was winding down. As soon as the gift openning ceremony was over, Shannon's two friends bolted out the door. Following shortly afterward were the Cameaus and Raglands and Jeff. Jason, Aaron, Bill and I took the table and chair back to Bill's church with the utmost haste. MJ had left while we were returning the chairs and shortly afterwards the Colemans left and I ran into my next door neighbor, Sam (I assume is short for Samantha), for the first time since she moved in. She seemed to be very nice and a bit sunburned. The final exodus came shortly afterward and I was once again by myself.

In conclusion this event was fun. I plan on having some type of event at my house soon as I enjoyed hosting the party. Maybe when it cools down a little bit.

Bats of Austin....

In preparation....