Ramona's ThornhillFest 2008 Awards/Superlatives

These are in no particular order. Hope you enjoy! I may continue to add to the list during the week or if anyone has any additions they would like me to consider, please let me know!

-Most excited newcomer to ThornhillFest: Marina Wang
-Best grilling: Greg Swanson
-Best Cubs outfit: Sophia Swanson and Josiah Gresziak
-Best version of Tom Akert: Eric Wang
-2nd Best version of of Tom Akert: Tom Akert
-Best version of the Umbrella song: Todd Ackland
-Most mellow attendee: Karen "mello yello" Featheringill
-Best pink hat: Lydia Revoredo
-Best attempt at impersonating Ramona: Tony Halaby
-Best Pee Wee Herman dance: Eric Wang
-Best new fragrance development: Minervino sisters
-Most likely to haul butt for perfect attendance: Dot Kee
-Best gift to the Thornhills: Mariam Ingersoll with bag of wrigley gum
-Most likely to be on the next Dancing with the Stars: John Dewane
-Most likely to run away from the mariachis: Stephanie Minervino
-Best negotiator: Christina Minervino
-Greedy award: The mosquitoes for taking a lot of our blood!
-Outreach award: Andrew and Eric for delivering food to various police departments
-Best impersonation of a Skeksi: Patrick Gagnon (see the movie the Dark Crystal)
-Most likely to date a gelfling: Patrick Gagnon (see the movie the Dark Crystal)
-Best food: Indian night
-Most likely to wear the new fragrance "Absolutely Ramona": Eric Wang
-Most likely to buy their husband a camera: Anne Panicker
-Best cabana boy: Jason Holvay
-Best dance with the mariachis: Cori Lee Bouska
-Best dressed: Anne Panicker and Pyary Sebastian
-Sweatiest award: sweaty dude from the Funkadesi band
-Best random connection: Patrick Gagnon and Funkadesi guitarist
-Most likely to do a ThornhillFest illustration: Jody Nilsen
-Best stayin' up late couple: Nick and Becky Erdmann
-Most likely not to steal Patrick's wallet: Joe Panicker
-Most missed at ThornhillFest: Nancy Kuo and Heather Kidd
-Lookin' good award: Julie Kresl
-Best competitive swing dance award: Todd Ackland and Julie Notariano
-Best game in the pool: Thornhill Ball
-Best runway walk: Todd Ackland
-Tightest ThornhillFest t-shirt award: Todd Ackland
-Best new food debuted ThornhillFest: Barbie pop-tarts
-Most likely to have small group at ThornhillFest: Jennine Barnett-Gibbons
-Most likely to talk about sororities at Valpo at ThornhillFest: Sue and Ramona
-Most likely to not see the sign and use the indoor bathroom: Brad Michalak
-Best formal attire: Jason AB's suit and Andrew's white tux
-Best delay in relocation: Charlie Bohm
-Most likely to leave something behind: Julie Notariano
-Best salsa dancer: Jeremy Frazier and Christina Minervino
-Best salsa/swing fusion dancer: Todd Ackland
-Most likely to regift their perfect attendance award: Tom Akert
-Most likely to be a future Thornhill: Mariam Ingersoll
-Heather Ahn award goes to...HEATHER AHN!

ThornhillFest 2008 Day 7

Our last day of ThornhillFest 2008 will go down in ThornhillFest history as one of the best closing nights ever! I woke up at around 10am to finishing the Day 6 blog and to get ready for a reunion picnic of old Yammers (young adult ministry prior to 2007) before heading out to Barrington. I wasn't the first to arrive, but apparently, Julie Notariano arrived at 3pm and was there for 15 minutes. Did anyone recall seeing her? The things we do to get perfect attendance at ThornhillFest...Upon a very warm welcome from Thornhill family, Andrew and I quickly debriefed the list of recipients for the perfect attendance award. First time appearances were made by Jeremy Frazier, Christina Trina, and Lisa Wells. The food consisted of little Latin fusion finger food. The guacamole was very yummy. There were 3 different flavors of Jamba Juice for Fest guests to slurp on. Mariam presented a plethora of Wrigley gum to Andrew which was enthusiastically accepted. Tony and I talked about our marathon training schedules and how they had been affected by ThornhillFest. I plan on running the Honolulu Marathon in December, Lord willing. We discussed our training methods of which I rely on Hal Higdon for. Tony and Andrew had a little Russian chat time and we all found out that the Romanian language has more of an Italian sound. Al had been working on his croquet skills earlier. I think he may be able to school Julie and Nick if they show up. Marc and Katie returned with Lydia Revoredo who was sportin' a pretty pink hat. The Swanson's also returned with their sweet daughter Sophia. In 2007, we ended with a bang as Christina Minervino rushed to find us the perfect mariachi band. Ending still with a little Latin flair, Island Dreams played salsa and cha cha music with a little hint of the Caribbean. Love the sound of the steel drums! They played a nice little bossa nova version of the "Girl from Ipamena." After that song, the MEGA dance party began! First to hit the grass covered dance floor were Jeremy Frazier and I. Soon to follow were Christina Minervino, Julissa Torres, and Tony Halaby. And let's not forget about John Dewane! He is definitely our most improved dancer who picks up dance moves by relating it to martial arts. Whatever works! I once taught a 7 ft guy how to do the merengue and told him to think of it as if he was dribbling a basketball. It worked! Only at ThornhillFest would there be so many handsome, young men to dance with. Todd Ackland got into the swing of things by dancing with salsa/swing fusion moves with both Heather Ahn, Jody Nilsen, and Karen Featheringill. Love that Karen, she is hardcore. The band was only suppose to play until 10pm but their set was extended until 11pm! More first time appearances were made by the Gresziak's, Aaron Wardrip, Kim and Jamil Webster, Shaun Polk, John Hodel, Tara Brooks, Dan Blaufus, Amy Weiner, and Ziggy Ziegenbein. Stephanie Minervino and I gave one last tribute to "the captain." Brad introduced me to some cool peeps from Harvest Elgin and Josh Dresser is now my new Facebook friend. Josh's got a rockin' profile pic! Everyone's attention was on Andrew as he began to give out the very thoughtfull perfect attendance awards for Thornhillfest 2008. Some of those who made the list were Karen, Christina, Margie and Mariam. Is Mariam destined to be a future Thornhill? Then the double duty 2 year 14 day perfect attendance awards were given. Julie received some kind of money kit, Tom received a 3 piece collection of different Catholic saints, Patrick received James Earl Jones recites the bible on CD and I received the most awesomest thing only true Jedi knights would be jealous of...a lightsaber! This was soooo much better than the Oscars:) Jody brought some animal guests named Sasha and Harley. I gave a recap of the week to John and Shaun as best as I could and knew they were wondering what kept them from coming earlier that week. We were reminded that Karen likes to drink Mello Yello and in return, I serenaded her with the song of that same name. Pyary has begun to plan Sebastian Fest which will be a direct cousin of ThornhillFest. HEATHER AHN! There I said it. Have to mention her name at least once in the blog. HEATHER AHN! Ha, I said it again:) Tom Akert posed for a pic with his "saints" and hopefully we won't see him burying St. Joe anytime soon. Jason AB and Julie exchanged a memo and arrived to ThornhillFest in formal attire. Dot, who was at another NASCAR race, hauled it to ThornhillFest and made it by 11:59pm to collect on her perfect attendance award. Somehow, we didn't keep track of Eric's attendance. Buffalo Gove and Rolling Meadows High School were represented. Brad finally saw the sign for the bathroom. He is not 100% Japanese as some of you may have believed but, Eric Wang is definitely 100% MexicAsian. At nights end, there was a consipracy to throw Andrew in the pool, Patrick was "on fire" and a School of Rock hardcore performance was given. You know you're not hardcore, unless you live hardcore...ain't that right Andrew? As we were cleaning up, I was thinking about the detoxing I will be doing and the mileage I will be running to get back on track with marathon training. The last of the Fest attendees excited the Thornhill Barrington manor close to 3am. All that experienced ThornhillFest took away memories of a time they will never forget. Many of us came and reunited with old friends. Several of us were introduced and made new friends. Some of us received so many mosquito bites that next year we might consider wearing a Hazmat jumpsuit. Only a few stayed up way past midnight...daily. But no matter what your experience was, I'm sure it was an experience worth having. Thank you all for reading this blog! Your enthusiasm helped motivate me to write at the wee hours of the morning. I hope that I have captured this year's Fest in a way that you will remember always. To the amazing Thornhill family, I thank you immensely for your friendship which has been such a blessing to me over the past few years. I will continue to keep all of you in my prayers and hope that the Lord will continue to place opportunities for us to cherish in the future as we continue to walk in His ways.

ThornhillFest 2008 Day 6

Twas the second to the last day of ThornhillFest and what a night was! You know its a great party when the official end time was 3:30am! You'll have to excuse the Erdmann's, Jody, Patrick, me, and Andrew if we are a little "zombie-like" today from the lack of sleep. I arrived in Barrington at about 9:30pm following a trip to Joliet and the Chicagoland Speedway to watch a NASCAR race. On my way to Barrington, I dropped by Harvest Bible Chapel to scoop up my best friend, Mari and her sister Sofie and escorted them to the Fest. I was soooo excited that they came with because I had been talking about ThornhillFest since 2007 to them and I really wanted them to experience it this time around. I've known Mari since 2nd grade and her younger sister Sofie since kindergarten. We all grew up in Rolling "Ghettos" (Meadows) together. Upon our arrival, we were warmly welcomed by Andrew and the group sitting with the Panicker's. I hear that Anne is going to keep the Cannon Rebel on her list of future gifts for Joe. To our dismay, we didn't get to sample the wood fired pizza, but the pasta salad and mostacolli mixed with Greg Swanson style hot dogs and hamburgers made an excellent substitute. The pizza barely made it to the right location and was originally dropped off across the street. The Spares played a great set early on in the evening. Please keep lead singer, Jody, in your prayers as she left early to visit her dad who is not doing too well. We certainly appreciated her commitment in coming and want to support her and bless her and her family through prayer. There was swimming in the pool and the mosquitoes continued to feast. I just love being a blood donor! A couple guys from Ben and Jerry's ice cream came to serve up a delicious treat at the Fest and our favorite waiter/caterer was back, serving like a banshee. Does that guy get a ThornhillFest award? The on switch was flipped and the cotton candy machine began to mix up some delicious pink and blue candy cone creations. I was a little nervous when I saw surgery being performed on the machine. A first time visit to ThornhillFest 2008 was made by Brian, Rocio, and Andrew Coons. At about 11:45 I receive a call from Mariam and Margie who were walking up the driveway. Just moments later, Dot showed up after driving NASCAR style to get there! And why are they so ambitious to bust a move to make it to ThornhillFest before midnight? No, they are not turning into pumpkins. Something worse. Their perfect attendance score is on the line! Speaking of perfect attendance, Julie (who returned post 80s party), and I began to compile the perfect attendance list which had about 14 names on it! That's 10 more that last year! And 4 of those 14 will have had perfect attendance for 2 years in a row!!! Jody also came back to the Fest post attending the competing 80s party. Last year it was the Garman's who threw a competing party during the Fest. It's bound to happen again year after year until we start having our friends sign contracts not to throw other parties during ThornhillFest. Andrew brought out some lovely homemade ThornhillFest cupcakes for us to sample. Patrick acted out a scene from the movie "Expelled." At night's end, conversations were had about marriage, dating, and a revisit to snooping/booby trapping topic. We were having such a great time, I don't think we knew that it was so late! We are almost at the end of ThornhillFest so let's make sure that Saturday night goes out with a bang!

ThornhillFest 2008 Day 5

The skies looked very threatening on Day 5. Even though Andrew updated the Fest website, I received a few phone calls from people wondering if ThornhillFest would be canceled if it was raining. Rain or shine, ThornhillFest is happening at its regularly scheduled time. That's one of the great things about it...it can be so unpredictable, so spontaneous and it calls us to be flexible and to adapt. I arrived at the Fest hoping that the shots of Starbucks espresso would kick in. The Swanson's returned with their beautiful daughter who was sportin' one of the brand new, special edition, highly anticipated ThornhillFest 2008 black t-shirts. The Texan BBQ was delicious and someone baked some nifty cowboy-like cookies. Will Eric Wang make us a trifle this year? Nick came back to the Fest and made sure to take part in the little powdered donuts...which are always a featured cuisine. I found out that Charlie Bohm was ditching his return to Arizona or at least just delaying it in order to attend ThornhillFest. We were made aware of a "compromise in safety" when we found out that a certain police officer we knew was just a little bit late to work earlier that day. Jesse Scinto and his posse were grabbing a quick eat before we brought all their gear from the porch and had them set up amongst the garbage cans and food spread. How urban! Despite the rain, thunder, and lighting, the show must go on and Jesse accompanied by 4 other fellas soon began to tear up the joint with their jazzy blues sound. They played several well know tunes such as, "hand jive" and "saw her standing there." Led Zeppelin and Elvis also made the set list. I guessed the song "Istanbul not Constantinople" (view video here) for the first of many CD give-aways. Everybody was having a great time! Sad for the people who didn't come directly following the message at One Thing. Those people missed out! Dot Kee however was one of the few who attended One Thing and rushed over to Barrington to hear the band. Great job Dot! After seeing Joe Panicker drool over the Cannon Rebel, I of course let him test out the camera. Anne, this may be a good birthday or Christmas present for Joe...hint hint. There were people doing the hand jive, swing dancing, and a Mexicasian doing the Pee Wee Herman dance during the song "Tequila." First time ThornhillFest 2008 appearances were made by Mike (dance with your women) Solecki, Maria Diaz, and Brad Michalak. Will they come back for more? There were several photo shoots this evening including, "see you at the pole," the 4 Italians and some female ninja/banditos. A hot, new, radio-active-like, fragrance was premiered..."Accidentally Ramona." Todd made a modeling comeback sportin' a youth large ThornhillFest shirt. He asked me why I haven't been wearing my signature Ramona hat lately. Those coming on Day 6 may get a glimpse of this fashion so have your cameras ready:) SoHee, Eric, and I impersonated Tom. Marshmallows were roasting on the grill in place of cotton candy. We were extremely excited when HEATHER AHN showed up, but wondered where Patrick went. Did he make a Day 5 appearance? Lots of speculation as to his whereabouts were made. Just before leaving the Fest, I received a phone call from Julie and was extremely delighted to find out that she left her black shoes! Will she leave us anything on day 6...?

ThornhillFest 2008 Day 4

Today was a throwback to the old school days of ThornhillFest. Ah, the memories that were relived by those who have been attending the Fest year after year. Since I strategically took a day off of work (it's not easy writing blogs at 2am and going to work the next day...I'm not getting any younger!), I decided to head over to Barrington a little earlier to take a dip in the pool. I was joined by Jody who I brought with after bike riding with her on Chicago's lake front. What a simply gorgeous day! We immediately jumped in the pool and played a few games of "catch and release" aka "Thornhill ball" with the Thornhill family. As Julie joined us, a game of marco polo began and I decided to become a fish outta water. Upon my return to the water, a conversation was had on the topic of snooping and booby traps. This was a very old school moment. We listened to about a 30 minute version of the song "funky town" while floating around on those nifty pool noodles. Tanya and Nate Roth made their first ThornhillFest appearance. This was Nate's maiden voyage on the ThornhillFest ship and what a good day to start on. He immediately was schooled in the history of how the Fest began and we were reminded of the 4 Pillars of ThornhillFest as well as how the "concept" came about. Greg Swanson was grillin' like a banshee! I think...no wait a minute...I know I had the best burger ever to have been cooked on the grille de Thornhill! Sorry friends, but I had to take that burger...it was calling my name:) The bbq food represented the menu of years past and really the only type of food we would eat the entire week. We typically would need to do a detox at the end of the week and several of us remember considering the master cleanse. The "quest" bag of Doritos made an appearance and so far, we think it has a lime and ginger flavor. As I was leaving for small group, I remembered to give my camera to Jody and entrusted her with the duty of my ace reporter for the evening. I don't just give my Canon Digital Rebel XSI to anyone! While I was gone, Todd gave a great acoustic guitar/piano performance from the porch in old school ThornhillFest fashion. He was accompanied by the "one man band" saxophonist Russ Nardo on the eharmony tribute. Pictures of a smooch were documented. A banshee reference was made. To my disappointment, I missed out on his ridiculously amazing version of Rhianna's umbrella song. Apparently, Julie didn't even know it was coming! Did someone get video of her reaction so I can upload it to youtube? It is very old school for us to have a "theme song" for Julie. Upon my return to the Fest, I was delighted by sight of a big, blow-up projection screen on the porch and "the Princess Bride" playing with excellent pixel clarity and Dolby-like stereo sound. In the old school days, we would watch the movie while floating in the pool...and more than once, the movie would always be Ghostbusters (watch a Latvian band's cover of the song here). The cotton candy machine was out, but was napping. Nick was roasting marshmallows by candle light. Christina, Heather, and I talked about taking Latin dance lessons. Todd was singing old school worship music. And at about 11:30pm, most of the crowd left, with some of us making a dash for Lifetime Fitness for a midnight workout. I wonder if Julie left anything behind tonight...that would be very old school:)

ThornhillFest 2008 Day 3

It's 2:13 am. I probably left ThornhillFest Day 3 a little after 1am. Hopefully my blog entry will be adequate at this early hour. This blog had 96 views on July 7th! A ThornhillFest blog record! At about 5pm, I had to do a double shot of Starbuck's espresso in a can in order to survive another late night. I was delayed in my arrival, but all for a good reason. I coordinate the English as a Second Language (ESL) program for Harvest Bible Chapel and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, we teach English to the migrant workers at the Arlington Heights Racetrack. As I was making copies of materials for the classes at the church, I ran into Lynda Nickels who said she may show up tonight. Dave Learned inquired about last night's Indian dancing and wanted to know who was dancing. Jeff Collazo heard me say that tonight was lounge music and he quickly changed his mind and came. SoHee and I traveled to Barrington post ministry responsibilities. We were warmly welcomed by Jody, Becky, and Nick who were just a few feet away from the amazing hors d'oeuvres and then welcomed again by the lantern lit, concert crowd, chillin' in the backyard. Lookin' good Julie Kresl who is the best choir buddy ever, made her first appearance to the Fest last night. I asked Miss Notariano to be a quasi ace reporter for the early part of the evening and to debrief me of the pre- 9 o' clock ThornhillFest moments. An opening game of croquet was played and Julie had noted that she won both games. The lounge act sang "it's cold outside," which was very opposite of the actual temperature. The mosquitoes were back....boo! There was swing dancing on the lawn, and Lydia Revoredo came back once again! She is the youngest attendee and with perfect attendance! Those Rev's are doing a stellar job in raising the little peanut:) And actually, there were several friends who have P.A. at this point! Julie, Andrew, Patrick, Karen and Marina decided to go for a late night swim. Andrew did a nice cannonball into the pool which got mostly everyone wet. As a result, I couldn't resist the alluring, pristine, inviting, salty, water, and decided to seize the opportunity myself and strolled back to my car to grab my swimsuit. On the way there, I heard Todd playing his guitar. While in the pool, we played a unique volleyball game in which I was smacked in the face by a volleyball...thank you Andrew! We attempted to make a whirlpool by running around the pool in a circle. It worked out okay, but we are really excited about trying it tomorrow with lots of people. I wonder if anyone was taking a tally of how many times I snorted while in the pool. Pool fun always makes me laugh:) The topics of late night discussion included types of modeling such as hand or eye, CBOT, throw -away guns, chocolate rain and other you tube hits. Jonathon Thornhill joined us and I think this was his first night staying up with the late night talkers. Todd gave us 2 of his best runway walks- will there be a fashion show at lunch? Then played a sample of an acoustic song by Rhianna. The "party til' ya drop" crowd was very excited as Julie managed to leave behind something finally! We've been waiting for the past 2 days for her to leave and forget something. Tonight, she left her pool clothes behind. Another "umbrella"hater was identified, the best cake in the world was shared and put in the garage, then put back in the house, and Fest food was delivered to a local hospital. I made sure to sample the lovely Barbie pop-tarts before leaving the Fest. Cari Grobart returned and we hoped she was going to party some mo'. A great night, but I'm definitely looking forward to kickin' this party old school tomorrow with a movie in the pool and BBQ. Will the cotton candy maker make a comeback...?

ThornhillFest 2008 Day 2

If Monday was this good, what will we say of the other days of ThornhillFest 2008? WOW! If you missed Day 2 of ThornhillFest, I hate to say it, but you really missed out on one of the greatest nights in ThornhillFest history! Unfortunately, this blog will fall very short in being able to describe such an amazing night of reggae/Indian/Latin fusion sounds, bollywood style dancing, authentic Indian cuisine, and breath-taking Indian attire. During the day, I was constantly checking weather.com for hourly forecast updates as the atmosphere looked threatening. Of course Andrew had me beat by checking weather underground with on the minute updates. We completely lucked out and had no precipitation in view. As I was driving to the fest, I made sure to download the umbrella song by Rhianna, just in case we needed to remind Julie of it during the week. Actually, we've tested out a new song by Natasha Bedingfield, "Love Like This," on Julie...one that Patrick and I hear all the time at Lifetime Fitness. With only 4 notes to the whole song which constantly repeat over and over again, it was the perfect candidate to annoy Julie with this year. Joe Panicker was telling us about how he was up all night at HBC helping tear down the "stones of remembrance" fountain using a jackhammer. The evenings Indian theme was all executed by the planning skills of Pyary Sebastian...and it was her 25th b-day as well! Mariam also shares a b-day with Pyary. The authentic Indian cuisine came from India House and included traditional dishes like samosas, tandori chicken, chicken marsala, paneer, and naan bread. Heather Ahn was well pleased with the selections. Pyary came to the rescue to dress up her caucasin, latina, and asian friends in Indian fashions, helping us look a little more like brown sugar:) Stephanie Minervino gave me insight into what really happened at GreekFest while I complimented her "made in Greece" t-shirt. Apparently, Patrick knew the guitarist in this evenings band, Funkadesi. The guitarist played percussion at New Trier High School (where Patrick attended) for the modern/ballet dance classes. Who else might Patrick randomly run into at ThornhillFest 2008? Maybe one of the brothers Ponce? Funkadesi began to play and delight us with their extreme talents and fresh, fun sounds of an Indian/reggae combination. Lydia Revoredo came for her second night in a row protected by a mosquito net. Speaking of mosquitoes, Andrew's foggin' skills paid off as I noticed a serious decline in the mosquito blood drive. While the band took a short break, we learned some serious Bollywood dance steps and were blown away by the 3 person dance team, with their youngest member being only 13. Whoever thought "changing the lightbulb" could be so much fun! The dancing continued as Funkadesi played. Most of us probably made a dent in burning off the samosas we consumed. Pyary showed off some great dance moves which we all tried to imitate. We then sang happy birthday and presented Pyary with an extremely detailed and very delicious birthday cake. It took 4 hours to decorate and only organic ingredients were used. At this point, the dancers were all begging for a cool breeze to come through. It was definitely a hot night! Patrick's wallet was stolen by someone....but then returned. Contrary to Patrick's belief, Joe Panicker had nothing to do with it. As the evening began to wind down, we congregated under the tent talking about cow bells, Eric vs. Andrew in a shoot out, Boo yahs, the umbrella song, Pyary's hottness, flat tires, Christina's shooting range experience, etc. We heard Patrick's version of a Dark Crystal Skeksis as well as Patrick and Eric doing Ghostbusters and Ferris Bueller's Day Off lines. We were reminded that this was the 5th year of ThornhillFest and Andrew gave us a break down of the 4 pillars: It's free, it's a week long, entertainment and food are provided, it starts when Andrew wakes and ends when he goes to bed. The night ended with lots of rain and lightning, more beef jerky and Eric scooping up the rest of the birthday cake and placing it inside a shoebox. This was the latest I've stayed thus far...1am! It will be hard to top this night....

ThornhillFest 2008 Day 1

It was the 6th day of July. The year 2008. The sun was shining, the temperature was a bit on the caliente (which means "hot" for all you gringos out there) side...all pointing to the perfect start of ThornhillFest 2008! Before arriving to the fest, I made sure to burn a couple hundred calories playing Ultimate Frisbee in hopes that it would help combat all the high caloric, authentic, yet oh so delicious consumption of Mexican cuisine. Thankfully, my roommate Dot decided to attend day one. I think she missed out completely on the festivities last year and could only live them out through reading this blog. With Dot closely following my Chevy Lumina up Barrington Rd, we arrived at the Fest a little after 5:30pm. Our first encounters were of Andrew, Jonathon, Mark, Karen, and Jason near the pool. We discussed this years' schedule of events and decided that Monday night, Indian night, would probably be one of the best. Soon we were joined by Jen Grabsky, Marina, Heather Ahn, Jennine, Trevor, and SoHee. The pool side party kept getting bigger. Jason was nicknamed "cabana boy" after offering to bring drinks to all the pool side ladies. With Andrew on the mic, an announcement about the food was made and the crowd started to congregate amongst the burritos, tacos, and sopes. This spread could put "Old Country Trough" or "Old Country Feedbag" out of business fo' sho'! All I gotta say is if you have an appetite, you betta' bring it! Several of us unashamedly, returned to the grazing area and had a second helping of out of proportion, calorie intake. Looking down at my cell phone, I realized that it was almost time for the mariachi band to start performing so I rushed out to my car to get my favorite Walmart, red, chair. As I walked through the gate, I ran into some of the mariachis and said "hola" to one of them. I think they were happy that I tried to speak some Spanish:) Los Palmeros were requested to make a comeback appearance at ThornhillFest because of how we loved hearing them the previous year. The song "mariachi loco" did get a little loco with the dancing at one point. There were some interesting "Elvis" like pelvic moves by our favorite soloist. Stephanie Minervino and I did not take another group picture with the band like we did last year. At the end of their performance, Cori Bouska made an announcement about Rich Chang's birthday and as a reward, she got to dance with one of them. We all sang him a happy birthday tune with the help of Los Palmeros and Leeanne presented Rich with a lovely chocolate cake. A huge round of applause is due to Christina Minervino for booking the band and the food and her excellent negotiation skillz. Lydia Revoredo made a first appearance at ThornhillFest and probably should receive an award for being the youngest attendee at the precious age of 8 weeks old! She is a cute little peanut:) The mosquitoes were out in full force looking for victims. They certainly drained a lot out of me! And now you know why I don't usually participate in blood drives. I give enough away to the mosquitoes each summer! Karen and I tried to escape the mosquitoes and headed towards the pool area. We were then joined by Mariam, Jason, and Margie. Mariam was bummed about not being able to be at the Fest on Monday due to prior birthday celebrating engagements. The evening drew to a close in a traditional fashion with me, Andrew, Tom, Patrick, and Eric, hanging out until midnight. Eric impressed us with his version of Tom Akert. And actually, Andrew and Eric are probably still hanging out as I'm writing this blog because they are delivering all the leftover food to police departments in two counties. Concept...perhaps we can bribe them to let quiet hours end not at 10pm, but get a 12am extension?