Starting out the weekend, there was a chance it was going to be the weekend from hell. I braced myself appropriately, apparently, since it turned out to be an absolutely fabulous few days.
Of course (WARNING: EAST COAST FRIENDS, AVERT YOUR EYES!) the weather being around 70 degrees and sunny might have had something to do with it.
Saturday morning dawned bright and beautiful as I gathered the kids for a neighbor's Laser Quest birthday party. Truly, the place was insane. There were four birthday parties going on at once, and the arcade was in the reception hall. It would've been easy to lose Dash, who was attached to me while Petunia played laser tag, because of the sheer overcrowding, let alone the poor layout. Suffice it to say, it wasn't my favorite party ever -- but the kids loved it, and that's what mattered.
The laser tag and arcade party was followed by pizza, etc., though, and imagine the surprise I enjoyed when the party hosts whipped out a gluten-free, soy-cheese pizza! To some people, this would be far from thrilling, but put yourself in my shoes: I don't remember the last time I ate a slice of pizza. It has been over a year, maybe two, ever since my wheat allergy became severe enough that I can't even cheat and sneak a bite. To compound things, Dash's recent diagnosis with a mild dairy allergy has complicated things. This family eats (ate) a lot of pizza. So when my neighbor introduced me to Amici's (the one they ordered from is in Mountain View), she greatly improved the quality of my life. We ordered from there tonight: a soy cheese pizza for Dash, a gluten-free Margherita pizza for me, and a half-cheese, half-pepperoni "normal" large pie for Petunia and the Guv. The downside was the $53 bill (the GF pizza was $24 of that) -- but my first taste of pizza in over a year made that priceless! (And it was really, really GOOD too!)
After Laser Tag on Saturday, we returned home to prepare for a visit from my college friend Seamus, his lovely wife, and their two year-old daughter. Sometimes, these type of visits are more trouble than they're worth -- the work of cooking and cleaning up compounded by constant childcare ("refereeing") can be a real drag. But not this time! Our Petunia stepped up to the plate without even being asked, taking over the care of her brother and our young visitor. Plus, the Guv and I made a very low-maintenace menu of chili, quesadillas, veggie and cheese trays -- that, some wine and beer, and it was a very easy, enjoyable evening. I don't remember the last time I had meaningful adult conversation with kids in the house. What a special night!
And then this morning, I slept in... which was actually a problem, since I woke up at 8:35 am and was supposed to be at Dash's preschool from 9-3 for a "maintenance day." For the uninformed, "maintenance day" is code for "wiping boogers off of toys, tables, etc." and it was totally gross. My son loves this preschool, but it is just not my bag... too much work, too much cleaning that I don't even want to do in my own house, too much dirt... All that said, the Guv recently figured out that to take my son to the drop-off preschool, I'd have to earn about $12g to pay for it... So we stay at the right school for Dash, the wrong school for me (though I have made some great friends there, so someday I'll stop saying that).
While I attended Booger Day, the Guv took Petunia, her two friends N and Z, and Dash on a super-long bike ride to Stanford's campus, where they launched stomp rockets, dunked in a fountain (did I mention it was 72 today?) and slurped Jamba Juice. The Guv is exhausted, and I am hugely impressed that he took that on himself. When I commented to him that this weekend was like one long playdate for our friend Petunia, he chuckled, "yeah -- just like our life was growing up. This is how it's supposed to be. Like the good old days!"
I'm not sure that I'm up for weekends jam-packed with mutiple others' kids yet -- though breaking it up with some friends and wine sure did help! And the Guv is right about one thing: these are the good old days, made new again through our young 'uns. What a fun weekend. I hope that it's just the start of a magnificent new year in our new California home.
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