PAR-TAY!

So, Drew ran out early this morning while I slept until 9:10 or so. Rachel came into my room, crawled into bed with me and said, "Mommy. The cupcakes look AWESOME!" Then she demanded I play "Twenty Questions" and at one point I must have looked exhausted because she said, "You really want to go back to sleep, don't you??" I said no, but then she got upset when I said I needed to get up and make breakfast for PopPop. She hopped off the bed and went into her room. I followed her in because I sensed she needed some Mommy and Rachel time, and I lay down on the bed with her and she grabbed my arm and wrapped it around her body and she said, "All I want is MOMMY." So, she read me a book about a little girl who dreams about being president (YEAH), and then we talked about Title IX (see previous post), and then she started to get to a happier part in the book, and I said she should finish it while I took a shower and tell me how it ends -- which she did, and it ended okay and I know this because she raced into the bathroom to tell me while I still showering. I love how she does that.

Then Drew got back and we raced over to the Lyon Park Community Center and started setting up. The folks who had had first few hours were just leaving and gave us a rundown of what we had to do, which we knew because Drew had printed out the checklist. Kelly, the troop leader of Rachel's Daisy Scouts troop, stopped in early with her husband and son and immediately jumped in to help set up. We had most of it done by the time everyone arrived, and the kids went outside to play for a bit. We got them back in to make masks, and then they tossed balloons around for a while, banged on the piano on the stage, ate pizza and watermelon and chips, then we did the piñata, then they came inside for cupcakes, and then we had them play pin the tail on the cheetah (all Drew's doing; he was a great MC while I made sure Mom and Dad were okay, chatted with the rest of the parents and made sure the kids had the food they wanted) and then, magically, it was 2:30 and some the parents graciously helped us clean up, and by 2:57 we had the place shipshape because PopPop had done half of the cleanup while I said goodbye to folks. One big lesson learned? Instead of just dropping Rachel off at birthday parties, I'm going to stay and socialize, and help the parents if they need it. Just call that my way of paying it forward.

Then we went home and Rachel opened presents -- including Grandpa and Grandma's incredibly cool Wizard of Oz pop-up book that I WANT FOR MYSELF BECAUSE IT IS AMAZING, BUT I WILL LET RACHEL HAVE IT, SINCE IT'S HER PRESENT, AND I WILL GO OFF IN A CORNER AND SULK. Rachel loved, loved, loved the gift. She put all her presents upstairs, I changed into cooler clothes and we headed out to....Wolf Trap! I had suggested Drew get tickets for us all to see selections from "Fantasia" 1940 and 2000 with a live score from the National Symphony, and, man, was it worth it! We walked around Wolf Trap a bit and vowed to come back when we can really hike around -- it's a gorgeous, forested National Park -- and we saw an outdoor restaurant with a wonderful buffet that we really want to come back and try sometime, and we got some light food at the concession stand, ate dinner on the lawn, went to our seats at the appointed time, and then...Fantasia! It was amazing, fantastic, Rachel sat on Drew's lap, then on mine, with a glowstick necklace (I'd bought it for her at the gift shop) and then we hopped the shuttle back to the West Falls Church Metro station, got into Drew's car and drove home. Poor Rachel didn't get to bed until almost midnight, but it was so worth it.

I feel so blessed to be back East with all my family, my old friends, my new friends...and the friends still in Oregon and Washington who are looking forward to our return visit in August. Peace, all!