Warning: Objects in rearview mirror are louder than they appear!

Next up on the Cowley itinerary, we are westbound 44 on to St. Louis for some grad parties, a wedding for a long time childhood friend, and grandma’s birthday. All of those take place in less than 48 hours mind you. Congrats to the all the seniors at Vianney baseball on a successful campaign this season (3^rd in state) and making it to graduation. We were fortunate enough to be in town for the Pfeiffer/Barnes/Lartonoix grad party. It was great seeing all the families again. Feels like yesterday we were fumbling through bunt coverage’s and team defense 3 years. Any who, I hope their baseball careers will bring them near Tulsa on occasion.
Our 3^rd wedding of the year took place at Busch Stadium which was pretty cool I must say. The ceremony took place right on top of home plate with the reception being held in the executive suites (I can’t place the actual name of the hall). I feel like it only took 30 minutes to get through the whole program which worked out real nice cause it did sprinkle almost the entire time we were in the green seats. It actually brought a nice feel to the wedding if you ask me. One hour into the whole production, my shirt and tie is mangled and damp from Kori using my chest as her own personal playground and I am drenched in cherry juice (red on yellow is not flattering). “Here Kori! Gnaw on this cherry and calm down a bit! The juice won‘t get all over me instantly” Really, Tom?!
At least the table of parents that watch me grow up got a huge kick out me struggling as a parent. Talk about stepping into a time machine. Aside from the bone head mistake to stray from the lemon wedge and give Kori a cherry to squeeze, the wedding was a lot of fun and so was she: flirting with all the little boys, meeting all my old friends and their parents, dancing till last call, etc. I can’t imagine taking a kid her age to a wedding that’s just awful. We’d probably RSVP no a little more often or one of us would have to fly solo but so far she has aced these late night weddings. Grandma was a big help though. She’ll take Kori sleeping, crabby, fussy, poopy, whatever. Hope you had a good birthday grandma! I know we were super glad to be in town for it.
Not to discredit the wedding, but my favorite part of the weekend was Sunday, the day before Memorial Day. I finally got to see my little bro and his family…most importantly his two kids, Brendan and Bailey. Moving to Tulsa has been tough but great at the same time. Leaving the kiddies has been the toughest part in my opinion: Matthew, Brendan, and Bailey. It would be nice to see them more often and watch Kori interact. So Sunday Fun Day was pretty typical: BBQ, some drinks, TLC, quality time, and several laughs. My mom thought it would be nice to open up the Cowley boy’s arts and crafts box from all the years past. Man, I really didn’t think the content of our cards/presents would be that entertaining. Between my brother’s penmanship/spelling and my desperate attempt to be the perfect son, I couldn’t tell what was more hilarious. One card read, “Dear Mom, I feel sorry for you!” …and that was it. What does that even mean?
Good time all around though. I wish everyone’s schedules would allow those moments to happen more often. Again, don’t go far. We got more comingJ

“I was gonna tell Claire about the dog. I was just waiting until she was in the right mood. Actually, I did get one right mood a couple nights ago... but I cashed that in for something else.”
~Phil Dunphy