Busy Weekend

We had a rather busy weekend. Saturday we were out the door at 5:45 so that my husband could run 9 miles with the friends he's training with in Forest Park. He had Charlotte in the jogging stroller, and I rode about the same distance (maybe closer to 7.5-8) on my bike. I was done a good 45 minutes sooner than the group or runners, so I wandered over to the visitor's center for a pit stop and to browse the tourism pamphlets. I still had time to ride back to the cars, read a bit, eat a granola bar I brought for a snack, and relax a little bit more. A. and L. also bring their 1.5 year old in the jogging stroller for the morning runs, so next week I think we'll try to arrange for the runners to meet me halfway through their route and leave the kids. I can get a full ride in (I'm not training for a 26 mile ride or anything), and then play with munchkins while they finish (and they can finish the race without the extra effort to push the strollers, which might be nice as their routes get longer).

We got home and figured out that M. had left his cell phone at the park, so I showered while he drove back to retrieve it from a nice walker. My mom stopped through town on her way home from a vacation near Branson, so we got to see her, my sisters Ally and Katie, and their dog Buddy for 45 minutes or so.

Charlotte was invited to her first kids' birthday party in the afternoon, for our friend's son Connor, who turned 6. The party was pirate themed, complete with eye patches and pirate bandanas for all the kids heads, and a really cool (and tasty) pirate ship cake. The older kids went on a treasure hunt in the back yard (Charlotte insisted on swinging on the swingset), and had plenty of playtime inside, plus cake and chips (Charlotte refused cake and ice cream but got her fill of junkfood by raiding the Cheetos). I hung out with the other parents, keeping half an eye on the kids, and talking.

By this point, M. had left for the airport to retrieve his parents, sister, and BIL from a vacation to Scottland. They came back to our house, and Charlotte and I joined them for a very greasy dinner at Fudruckers (burgers and fries...the perfect end to a day of cheetos and chocolate). That was Saturday.

Sunday morning, I took Charlotte to the zoo with friends, including one who was in from out of town so her 6-yo could attend Connor's party. We arrived around 8:30 (it was already over 90 degrees), and left by 10:30 for church. The last stop had been to buy popsicles for the kids, and Charlie had red sticky juice all over her outfit--I hadn't thought to pack clean clothes to change into. So we stopped in the restroom on the way out of the zoo and I rinsed her top off in the sink, hitching her skirt up over her chest so she looked somewhat dressed for the walk to the car (she was in a stroller, so it would be hard to tell anyway). Her top was almost dry after the short drive to church (it was 95+ and sunny).

She was in high spirits thoughout mass, barely giving me a chance to sit and cool down after spending the morning in the heat. We all (including my inlaws) went to Chevy's for mexican afterwards, and then home for Charlotte to take a (too-short) nap. For dinner, we went back to our freinds house and had take-out chinese and let the kids exhaust the rest of their energy before bed.

We still had a lot of cleaning to do last night, since our cleaning lady comes today (she will scrub, but can't do the organizing and straightening like we can). Yikes, what a weekend.