…the weekend. The party was very stressful for me, but it went very smoothly. My Mom came with me in her role as Food Police Officer. Although the place is very small (which would be doable under normal circumstances), the food leaves me unable to leave Kayla without supervision or without watching the food. The food area was separate, but there are no gates or doors so food can travel. My girlfriend is very understanding and asked all the parents ahead of time to wash up after eating. There is no sink in site, so I had brought wipes to cover that as best we could. During the playtime, things were pretty easy. She only had pretzels out (her husband had brought Doritos, but she only served them during the pizza).

While the kids ate pizza, my Mom and I stood guard over the doors and took turns watching the kids and watching the doors. There were a few other Moms in particular who were so helpful in not only cleaning up their own kids, but also the others. So with the help, my Mom and I got all the kids and adults washed up before they re-entered the play area. The kids then played again before having cake.

The cake was kind of the same thing, but my Mom and I could not watch guard as easily because we were helping the girls have their safe cupcakes. But the cupcakes were done close to the end of the party, so we were going to head out after (except Kayla and Alysa wanted no part of leaving and insisted on playing in the sand again). Thankfully the Moms were good at remembering the wipes. Even though I could not stand guard, I was watching. It was hard because Kayla really wanted to sit at the table with the birthday boy and the other kids to sing to him. She couldn’t because the cake was there and it is where they had all had the pizza. So I held her and explained it to her and one of the other Moms was nice and a quick thinker and told Kayla that she had the best spot because she was up high and could see everything. She was very excited about having a cupcake though and did not care at all that her and Alysa sat away from the other kids.

I noticed Kayla getting a little scared at times during the food, but it was pretty fleeting. To eat her cupcake I had to take her into the food area, but I put her back in the corner at a little table. I cleaned off the table and chairs and carried her back. She got scared that she had to enter the food area. She did the same thing earlier when she got a temporary tattoo from the woman running the party. She had to walk back to the same table. But…no food had been served yet, but I still stayed right by her side. Thankfully her fear was easy for me to diffuse and she got her tattoo and she had her cupcake.

So with no reactions, I can say the party was a success. The girls had a blast – which was quite evident from them refusing to leave when it was over.

Saturday night, the girls went to my Parent’s house and J and I got to enjoy a minor league baseball game with some friends. It was great to eat a hot dog, soft pretzel, popcorn and ice cream – all of which would have been off-limits had we brought the girls with us. Of course, I still have to wash up after eating so I don’t contaminate my purse, etc. But it was a low-key and yummy evening – even if all that food made us go broke.

Sunday morning, my Parents and I took the girls to feed some ducks at a creek in a town near where they live. The girls got a kick out of giving the ducks bread. But their favorite part was frolicking in the creak. They were soaked when we finally left. I was able to capture some good falls on stills and video. [All to come later].

So now I must spend this week recovering from an exhausting and HOT weekend. I will be back later today or tomorrow to post pictures from the weekend and last week’s peach/blueberry/corn picking extravaganza.