Lundeland: The Nathan J. Trifone Invitational (Memorial Day Weekend)

Our Memorial Day weekend tradition of going home to Jackson for a cookout continues to expand. Awhile ago, my brothers and I decided we would pick holidays to "host." I have always done Easter and two years ago when Nathan was living on his own he picked Memorial Day. As we have done with the annual crawfish boil at Easter, he too added his own twist to the weekend with the Nathan J. Trifone Invitational golf tournament. And as we have done with our Easter traditions...he continues to build on it each year. This year was the 2nd annual golf scramble, and I can proudly say my team was victorious. Nathan may have carried the weight of the team, but my dad and I came through with some great shots when needed!

Just like his big sister, Nathan likes to set a precedence for his weekend events. We were emailed a copy of the "Schedule of Events" 2 weeks in advance and had plenty of time to prepare and rest up! (For Matt and I "resting up" included being out of town the previous two weekends!!) THe weekend kicked off with a Gentleman's cocktail hour and Ladies tea, followed by a "Welcome Dinner from the Chairman." I was able to sneak in some gift giving as Nathan and my mom both have May birthdays. We each received a welcome basket with snacks, drinks, brand new Taylormade golf balls - and this year's highlight: Custom-made golf tees! I LOVED IT!!!

Saturday morning kicked off with team meetings. Teams stayed the same with my mom, Matt and Mark vs myself, Nathan and my dad. By noon my team had already won based on strategy alone! Matt and my mom went to yoga, followed by a 4 mile run and topped off the day with practice at the driving range. Nathan, understanding the necessity of not over-exercising my dad and I, took us for a secret meeting that cannot be disclosed at this time. Saturday night's "social" included dinner at Bravos followed by movie night at my moms. Everyone went to bed pretty early since Nathan set 8am tee times!

Sunday morning we met at 7am at the golf course. My teammates brought me a Starbucks for good luck! After a great morning of playing scramble golf - Nathan, my dad and myself came out victorious - beating the other team by 3 strokes. Thank goodness we didn't let Mark and Matt win two years in a row! After lunch at the country club we relaxed and had "free time" until the evening's "Past Champions Dinner." Mark cooked a four course meal of:

Homemade from scratch tomato-basil soup, an amazing salad with a homemade blue cheese dressing, steaks with mashed potatoes and asparagus and topped off with vanilla ice-cream with berries and a homemade fruit syrup! No point in ever going out when Mark could cook at home!

Monday morning Mark and Matt were outside with the smoker by 8am putting the ribs on. We enjoyed a Memorial Day lunch of smoked ribs, homemade mac and cheese, gourmet beans, homemade coleslaw, deviled eggs and iced tea! We also took time to remember the reason we were coming together as a family. My maternal grandfather was a doctor for the US military and my paternal grandfather was in the Italian Army and a POW for 2 years in India. We are proud and thankful for all of the troops out there, past, present and future!

Can't wait for next year!