Saturday was the big day. We hosted a pig roast in honor of Rich’s 50th birthday, Rick’s 18th birthday, and Rick’s high school graduation. It was a stellar year for events in the Zurek family.

I had called up Smith Farms way back in March to arrange for a pig roast. These are the guys who did our wedding reception and Rich’s college graduation party. They do an awesome job of roasting pig.

Bob called me at 7:00 AM to explain he was coming out, but he had some work to do at the farm before he left. A storm had gone through Plano the night before and they had no power with downed trees. They had to move pigs from their freezer to somewhere that had power. You can count on the weather in the Midwest.

About 11:00 AM, Bob rolled into the neighborhood with the pit cooker on the back of his truck. We got him situated and the pig roasting began.

My girlfriend from high school came up from Louisville with her hubby and a friend of theirs. Kay came out early so we could visit for a while before it got really hot out. Don brought his best jokes and kept us entertained for a while. I hadn’t Deb before, but I know her now. Thanks guys for coming out and visiting with us.

I had worried that people wouldn’t be coming out for the event. I had heard from a few people, but I just wasn’t sure who was going to show. I never make it RSVP because so many things get in the way. I provide enough food for some and hope that I can cover that number. Luckily, we had a ton of people show up. With the extras that everyone brought, we had way more than enough.

Between 4:00 and 5:00, everyone seemed to be hitting my door. I saw faces I haven’t see in a while. There were several new faces as well. Then we had our standard group who show up to every party. We ended up with a nice mix of people and a lot of great conversation. On Sunday, I totaled up the people that I could think of and I think I had between 65 to 70 people. There are probably a couple of people I’ve gotten.

The Zurek clan started to gather about 3:00 to 4:00. Jon, Patty, and Patrice arrived first. It wasn’t long before Alex, Kelli, Erica, and Joe came wondering in. Vanessa and Chris, along with the kids (Isabel, Sophia, and Cael) made it out. Rose, John, and Lily came in later. Apparently, traffic was pretty bad through downtown Chicago.

Because of the heat, Bob was able to meet his original schedule and start carving up the pig about 5:00. That allowed us to get started with eating about 5:30. We had all the fixings out along with the snacks. I think everyone came to the table with a good appetite. We went through one and half pans of pork one the dinner round. During the carving, Bob was serving up burnt ends, bone cleaning pieces, and some good conversation.

For dessert, I had worked with my dessert caterer to have cupcakes and cake. The cake was carrot while the cupcakes were maple and bacon and chocolate. Everyone one of them was heaven. Now my dessert caterer is only 14 years old, but she does a wonderful job on her creations. I wanted to become a regular customer, so I’m getting in on the ground floor of her business. Thanks for the wonderful creations, Tobi. I got a lot of compliments and I was able to tell a great story about them to my guests.

This was Sascha’s first party since she joined us a year ago. I wasn’t sure how she would do with a large crowd. She turned out to be a real party animal! She mostly hung out downstairs around the bar with the fun people. She circulated and was very friendly to all. Probably didn’t help that my brother-in-law, Jon, was feeding her quite a bit of food.

Also, this was Sascha’s first time with little kids. She’s been around some of the neighborhood kids. Vanessa’s kids are all under 6 with Cael only being 2 ½. The two girls had a good time petting and loving on Sascha. Cael was okay as well as Sascha wasn’t on her feet. He would pet her while she was lying down. But then, Sascha is as tall as he is. That’s got to be a bit frightening.

We carried on the party until well in the morning hours. A lot of the guests had left by midnight. That left the Zurek clan to party on. Arnie from the bowling team had arrived late and stayed on to party with the Zurek brothers and sisters. There were a few of us outlaws as well.

I did manage to pass out some baggies filled with delectable pig.  Some of my friends complained that they were taking a small pig home with them.  I didn’t care.  I definitely had more than I could use.  I was sending all the relatives home with a bag or two as well.

I finally called it quits about 1:00. Rich said he finally went to bed about 2:00. Sascha came up, but she wasn’t ready to go to bed. She was still too excited to close her eyes and go to sleep. It took a little convincing that everyone had gone to bed and it was time for her to do the same.

However, she was up and wanting out at 6:00 AM! She didn’t need to go out, but she had to go and watch for squirrels! I left her to her own devices out in the yard and returned to bed. After another hour of sleep, the clan was moving around and getting ready for breakfast. I fixed sausage gravy and biscuits. Everyone ate up. Hopefully, they got their fill.

After showers and packing, most of the Zureks headed out to Woodstock to take a look at the bed and breakfast used to film “Groundhog Day” with Bill Murray and Andie McDowell. They found the plaque for where Phil repeatedly stepped off the sidewalk into the mud puddle. After that, they appeared to go their separate ways for lunch before heading downtown Chicago and the Science and Industry Museum.

For us, it was a leisurely day of picking up and cleaning up. Rich and Sascha had a nap. Rick and I hung out watching movies as we slowly made our way through the red cups, paper plates, and discarded water bottles. Finally, we had a handle on it all and the last dish was washed.

Now it’s time for bed and hopefully a long restful night. I’m not ready for work tomorrow, but I only have 2 days before the 4th of July holiday. A split week might not be so bad.