I got a text from my mom around noon letting me know that she and my dad were coming into town by about 5 pm. They were coming by for dinner.  For regular readers, you may recall a situation a few months ago
when they showed up unannounced. 

Garbanzo and I had plans, so we ditched them.

But, tonight, we didn’t have anything going on, so I told them we’d make them dinner.  It’s my dad’s birthday tomorrow, so I thought it would be nice having dinner with them and having birthday cake.  Garbanzo set aside his to-do list (which included annotating a comic book or something, tidied up the house and made a birthday cake.

Garbanzo also made a fantastic meal.  My dad loves salmon, so he made a baked salmon with wild rice and salad.  The cake was his red velvet cake.  Yum!

After the meal, I went in to get the cake.  I looked to see if we had any candles, couldn’t find any, so shoved a huge candle in it.  I mean, it is my dad’s birthday.  There must be some amount of a large fire on top of the cake.  (We are smart asses in my family, so if you can’t put the correct amount of candles on the cake, you have to do something just as big.)  As I’m walking outside with the cake, my mom tells me that Garbanzo bought candles and tells me where they are at.  We add the pink sparkly candles to the cake and take it outside.

(Yes, that is a giant cupcake cake.  We have a great cake mold!)
Also, notice my dad’s smirk.  He totally appreciated the huge candle.

Notice Bob the dog’s nose in the lower left?  My dad had been feeding him under the table.  Bob knows who’s ass to kiss.

And, I can’t forget the picture that shows my husband expressing his true love for me.  Yes, he did that in front of my parents.  My dad asked if I was going to put up with that behavior from him.

I will have to say, as much as I can bitch about my parents or tell stories, I think Garbanzo summarized it best by observing just how laid back they are.  They just sat outside, tormented the grandkids, and relaxed.  No stress, no drama, just a great way to spend a summer’s night.