Eat, Drink and Be Merry...

What a weekend. We started with a family gathering at our home for my niece Holly and beau, Mike. This was followed by the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Delano and ends with our family holiday of Bracket Sunday and enchiladas.

When you get my family together it can get a little crazy. I have 48 first cousins, but I grew up with my mother's side of the family of 20 cousins and am very, very close to eleven of those cousins.Now, of these 48 there is the third generation and truly, I have lost track. Numbers aside, we are close knit and love to get together.

It is always a party when the cousins are together, led off by the oldest of my generation, Ned, who always shows up with a bottle of tequila. Yes, we are tequila drinkers. We like to blame this on an aunt and uncle who loved their tequila on the rocks. And so, our own March madness began on Friday as we welcomed Holly and Mike, visiting from Illinois.

And if Friday wasn't enough, we got up Saturday morning and headed to Lawrence Dumont Stadium for the 11:00 parade line-up. I have no idea how many of us there were, but we were many. Maybe go to the Coasters Bicycle Club website for a count and more pictures of the festivities.

We were decked and green and Irish for the day.

After the parade, we headed to The Shamrock for Irish Stew, green beer, and Guiness. We were serenaded by bagpipes and Brad threw his back out dancing a jig. Later, we took Holly and Mike for a bike ride to the Keeper of the Plains, had sandwiches at Merle's and headed home. Good times.

We'll complete the weekend today at my Mom and Dad's house. I'll go over to help Mom with enchiladas, we'll watch basketball, and wait for the announcement of the teams for the NCAA tournament brackets. Thus begins our three week holiday of basketball. Again, good times.

LOTS of pics in picture gallery. Enjoy.