Happy 4th Birthday!

We all had a great time and hope everyone else had as much fun as we did. All the kids were terrific. I can't think of much else I'd do differently. Shara's sleeping it off at the moment. She must have been running on adrenaline just as much as I was. We couldn't have asked for better weather, better company, better surroundings, or better behavior. That's something we kept talking about - how well behaved the kids were and that it was so wonderful to see them all playing together and having so much fun. Even Shara, the little dictator didn't seem to bother anyone with all her rules and regulations. Yes Maggie, like mother, like daughter.

Alan and I have promised ourselves now that we have the pool & yard fairly finished - always adjustments here and there, but no major project like, to list a few during the past 4 years - siding, pool & apron, and landscaping the back 40+, we will be taking advantage of the pool & yard, and look forward to sharing with our friends, family, and friends to be! As Andrea said, "this house rocks!"

Recital - went great! & Birthday info

Well Shara did great. In the morning I asked her what she was most excited about and she said her family coming and at the end of the day I asked what her favorite part of the day was and she said, "dancing on the stage". She had a wonderful time and so did everyone else. As usual it was over too quick, but Shara entertained all. She is such a little dictator. She really tries to run the whole show.

Here are some pictures. I ordered the video of the whole show, but we'll try to put the video we shot from rehearsal up here some time.

Recital08

On another note, several people are asking me what she wants for her birthday. To tell you the truth, she hasn't asked for anything. She always seems to find things to play with, be it a bag filled with tissue paper, plastic easter eggs, or her baby. She did mention a pink dress for baby. Shara's favorite color is pink. She likes frilly, dress-up clothes and jewelry - where did she come from?

I updated her Amazon wish list. The link is on the front page of this blog - just to the right of this posting, most likely. Please read the comments on the wish list because, for the most part, it's just a general list of ideas. For those of you who will be attending the party as friends of the parents (Laurie & Alan), please don't feel obligated to bring Shara a present. As I said, she makes her own fun and seems to build toys out of junk, which is why there are gobs of paper all over the house. We (I) can't throw anything away because it's a potential toy.

As for the party itself, we will have the pool open by then. After the "official" party - is cake served before presents or presents first? Anyway, after cake & presents, feel free to swim. I don't want the responsibility of having a pool party for a preschooler, and there wasn't anything about it on the invitation, but it would be fun and as far as I'm concerned, people can stay until it's no longer fun, or they have other places they need to go.

Last Day - Coming home

Our last day was kind of tiring, and I'm sure it was because I was a little hung over and also because we didn't have the luxury of relaxing completely. We had to pack and be ready to leave, also arrange for our shuttle to the airport, and make 6 PM dinner reservations. We grabbed breakfast at Bouchon's Bakery and I got a pecan sticky bun to bring home. I only ate 1/2 of my bran muffin, not because it wasn't good, but it was really filling. Alan had a plain croissant, but we had ordered a chocolate one. The plain tasted great to me. After breakfast we headed out to do some souvenir shopping, of which there was a lot, even just in the hotel, see the shops we missed before, and just hang out - felt like killing time a lot today - really looking forward to going home and seeing Shara.

Then we looked around the casino and I finally played a bit of black jack. The dealer we had was great for my first time. She wasn't too fast, still added the cards for us, and used to be a teacher, but dealing cards 3 days a week paid better - 'nuf said. I didn't win, but didn't loose much either. It was tons of fun and I can see going to Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun a few times a year for a day trip. It is expensive to play though. At least for me, since I didn't last too long. We did play for about an hour or so, and it was also fun just watching others play.

After that we headed down the strip to Mon Ami Gabi at Paris. This is a chain from the Lettuce Entertain You group out of Chicago. They have a lot of restaurants and all sound good to me. This was probably the best burger I've ever had. I'm not one for beef burgers, as though who know me can attest, but this was fantastic. The meat didn't taste gamey, it was juicy, and the toppings were perfect - asked for grilled, rather than raw onion, tomatoes - juicy & red, lettuce - flat! And it came with pomme frites which weren't like regular fries but more like chips. Yummy! Alan had a Cuban sandwich which was good, but not nearly as good as the one I had when doing training in Wareham - the one that came from the gas station where the owner cooks his own meats. Then we waddled back to the hotel - we did walk back, and it was a beautiful day. Headed to the room to clean up a bit, call Shara (who was out and about at the playground) and went down to check our bags and arrange for the shuttle. We tried getting Shara again and had success. We then went back up to the pool because we planned not to hand in our room key - after overhearing one of the other guests tell his girlfriend, "I keep using the card over and over" upon getting to the guest elevators, where you need to show your card prior. Then back inside and over to dinner.

Dinner - we had reservations at B & B, Mario & Joseph's more upscale place. The food was incredible, though too rich for me and I paid for it later. Surprising since the meal the night before seemed very rich too, and I even ate the butter. Service was odd. I'm not sure if it was the way we were dressed or not, but our waiter didn't seem very interested in us. We had to pry answers out of him, where as with the table next to us he was very chatty. I ended up having 2 pasta dishes and Alan had a pasta dish & a meat entree. They mentioned the menu was set up with the 3 courses & dessert - appetizer, pasta, & entree. I wasn't in the mood for anything really meaty, and Alan knew we weren't close on our wants, so didn't try to split things. I had squash raviolini with Rabbit and Pancetta and the Homemade Orecchiette with Sweet Sausage and Rapini. The portions weren't more than having the pasta & dinner, but both were very rich. Alan had Bucatini all’Amatriciana with Guanciale (I think it's pork cheek prepared like a pancetta), Hot Pepper and Pecorino and Grilled Quail with “Scorzonera alla Romana” and Saba - which definitely had fennel in it. As you can see, it's important to have a good waiter to do the translations. So we did enjoy dinner, and good thing we took the 6 PM reservations because the place was filled up and we didn't get out of there until after 8 PM. We skipped dessert.

Our shuttle picked us up at 9 PM and off to the airport we went for a singling out at security for the bomb sniffing test, an emergency run for me to the bathroom, and then to the terminal for 1 3/4 hours to relax before the flight. We got out the laptop and finally watched a couple of shows alan had transferred from Tivo. We must have slept for a while on the plane because the flight didn't seem the full 4 1/2 hours, but it seemed like I was awake a lot. I was going through my Peptos and thankful I had carried so many emergency items with me! Things did go smoothly though and we actually were able to get Shara by about 10 AM!

Neither of us were sure if she would run into our arms or run away. She didn't really do either - more like sat there watching TV and asked me to be quite because she was trying to listen to the TV. Then she went into the other room to show me some of what she was playing with and seemed nonchalant to see either of us until I had to run out to get something from the car. Alan came out carrying a hysterical Shara who thought I was leaving. I then held her inside on the couch for several minutes while she calmed down. We all agreed that we were gone a couple days too long and we all really missed each other a lot!

That was on Friday and we had Saturday, Sunday & Monday together and I'd be happy to have a few more days before heading back to the real world. We all did a lot of work outside, made a couple of batches of cupcakes for Shara's party, etc. On Saturday we went to Brigg's garden center then out to lunch at Cosi in Mansfield Crossing. Sunday & today we stayed home, happily. Each morning we worked out in the yard and after lunch & nap, relaxed, had dinner & went to bed. Last night I got to sleep by 10:30, vs. 12:30 the night before. Tonight I'm going to try for 9:30. Back to our usual programming.