Rain and Games and Carnitas, Oh My!

Last night and all morning it rained like cats and dogs!  We heard the pounding all through the night, which is relaxing until a pine cone drops onto the top of the rig and then you jump.  The campground is so waterlogged, it's crazy!  I guess that 1.39" that was predicted showed up last night.  The good thing was that we were warm and toasty in our RV.

Today being the Sabbath, we met Becky and Jeff at church for Sacrament Meeting and then came back to the rig for a bit of lunch and relaxation time before heading back to their place at 3:00 p.m. for Jeff's famous Carnitas dinner.  The food was all prepped with avocado dip in the guacamole shells, chips, TONS of yummy cilantro (my personal favorite), onion, pico de gallo, Carnitas meat, rice with lime and cilantro, beans, warm tortillas and pineapple spears.

Becky made Jeff's yummy drink in cute Ball canning jars called "The Drink That Shall Not Be Named" (sounds like something out of Harry Potter).  LOL!  It's made with tonic, grenadine, lime and carbonated water with ice.  Plus they had a water dispenser will chilled water with lemon, lime and oranges.  So refreshing!

Of course, while they were finishing up preparation and before Jeff's parents arrived, Scott had to tease Becky by putting the rook card in his shirt pocket.  We were going to be playing Rook later after dinner.  He is such a tease!

Jim and Joy Walton came over about 3:15 p.m. to join us and we feasted on Jeff's delicious dinner.

After dinner, we cleaned up and then had some Strawberry - Rhubarb pie from Wagner's Bakery in Olympia, with real Vanilla ice-cream.  The bakery was started in 1957.  I'd never had Rhubarb before.  They say it's a very sour taste, but this pie was sweet and the crust had just the right amount of pastry.  Yummy.

All too soon, the was time for a friendly game of Rook but I was so cold during dinner, my feet needed another pair of socks and Becky loaned me the most thick, comfie socks on the planet!  They are from CostCo (Kirkland) so guess where I'm going tomorrow!  She brought out a bunch of them so I could see what they look like.  Don't they look TOTALLY comfie?!

Now, back to Rook.  The Walton's don't play just any game of Rook.  They play are always changing up the rules and tonight we played a version called Rick Rook.

Basically, there are teams - but you don't know who the teams are until play progresses.  We had 6 people playing tonight, so we took out only 3-2's and kept all the 1's in the deck.  The scoring is the same except the 1's have a value of 15 points and are the most valuable in your group of colors outweighing the value of the 14.  The total amount of points per hand is 180 so it's a different beast.  The Rook isn't necessarily the trump card.  So, when someone wins the opening bid, they call out the trump color like normal, BUT, they also call out 2 additional cards to be on "their team" such as the 13 Red and the 1 Black.  The person doesn't know WHO his/her partners are UNTIL those 2 cards are played.  The Rook is then the highest card regardless of trump and can be played at anytime - even first.  Are you confused yet?  The idea is to lay down the cards the person who won the opening bid asks for but also make points so you can then "help" each other but sometimes the play of the hand doesn't allow you to disclose who you are until much later making things confusing.  Well, it took a few hands to get the idea and also to remember to keep the 1 next to the 14 so you remember it's higher than the 14, but it was so much fun and always kept you guessing.  To score, when the hand is over, if you "team" made the bid for the round, each member of that team get those points, but if the "team" as a group didn't made the bid, they all lose those points.  The losing team just doesn't get any points.  Joy was the big winner with 655 points and Jeff was close behind.  She only lost 1 hand!  Super Fun!  Give it a try sometime!

Scott is dealing the cards

Jim is carefully laying his card trying to figure out who his team is.  Joy has a confused look on her face.

All eyes on Scott after Jim made his move for a reaction.

Becky grumbled about never having a good hand or every having the Rook...

...but when she does, everyone knows it!

It was a fun afternoon and evening.  Becky and Jeff were the perfect hosts.  Tomorrow is our last day here.  It will be 61 degrees and NO rain - Hurray!  I'm heading off to Costco for sure!