Day 216

April 30, 2011

A spotted towhee hopped up on our deck this morning. I was eating my breakfast when I saw him out of the corner of my eye. They're handsome birds, I think, with their burnt orange fronts and black head and wings, white spots on the wings adding a little flare. Neat looking.

We all went to an open house at Fraser's work. It was pretty fun. We got to see through the windows into where Fraser spends much of his time. There were other people in their working in their bunny suits, which always remind me of Willie Wonka's chocolate factory. I can just hear the oompa loompa song in my head. They were giving out popcorn which made the scene even more comical to me: people eating popcorn, staring through windows at people covered head to toe in white suits. Haha...

There were other cool things to look at: robots, a giant chess board, tons of free giveaways (pens, magnets, rulers, notebooks, vuvuzelas, calculators, etc), computer games, colored moving lights. It was a bit crazy, but interesting too. Lots of people were there.

This evening we had people over!! It was our first real gathering. It's wonderful for me to hang out with the moms but the dads never get to mingle. Also, I've been wanting a more communal feeling amongst people. So I suggested a monthly family gathering at alternating houses. This was the first one. 

It was fantastic! First of all, tons of people came. There were seven families, including ours. All of which have at least one child, a few have new babies also. The weather was good for us so people got to hang out outside too. The food was delicious. And the best was that all the kids did amazingly well together! They hung out together and separately. The adults had a chance to hang out and talk, the dads mingled, the moms mingled, the moms and dads mingled. I really enjoyed meeting the dads, who were all fantastic also. It was great. I can't say that enough. It was so fun. Everyone had a blast. I couldn't be happier.

Jacob had an absolute ball. He was just lit up, running around the backyard with the other kids, playing ball, hanging out, you name it. He barely hung out with me at all the whole evening. This sounds odd, but it was wonderful. Wonderful to see him so comfortable with so many kids around playing with his toys. Wonderful to see him interact with the other kids. Wonderful to see him having such a fun time. I'm excited about this new endeavour.