Yesterday was our 3rd visit with J, G, K & Z since the Babe’s arrival–we saw them at Christmas, for Z’s 4th bday, and we had a fun picnic yesterday. Why yesterday?
I’ve learned that J likes to take a few days off of work to, in her words, “get ready” for a visit with us. She typically works 50+hrs a week, and rather than have just one day off, she saves her vacation time so that she can take several days off in a row. In April, she told us that she’d have some time coming around her bday, which was Tuesday (which, oddly enough, is also K’s bday). So when we looked at what would work for all involved, a Friday afternoon turned out to be best.
We found a park near L’s office, so that he could just leave work a little early rather than have to take a 1/2 day or whatever, and I packed some snacks, including little cupcakes to celebrate J and K’s bdays (we sent e-cards earlier in the week).
Like I wrote about April’s visit, we weren’t nervous this time–it really is like going to see relatives we see only a few times a year. The only thing we weren’t sure about was G–he and J haven’t been getting along very well lately, and as J has put it, she think it’s sort of the “beginning of the end”. But everyone came, and everyone behaved and the Babe did just fine.
We played on the playground, snacked, and J and I took Z and the Babe around the little lake for a stroll, so we got to talk a little bit without the boys. K commented on all the recent pics on the Babe’s photoblog–she’s a frequent visitor. We hung out for about 1 1/2 hrs, and then the Babe was past tired, so we packed it up.
6.5 hours at the IMA
From there, L took the Babe home, and I moved on to the next part of my day–a girls night out!! I got together with a few friends for a movie under the stars at the Art Museum. They show movies every Friday in the summer–VERY cool. It’s an adult, BYOB type picnic, so I went prepared with an adult beverage cooler and some cheese and bread. Really, what else do you need?!?!
We went a few summers ago as a group, and remember long lines, and the shows selling out and whatnot, so we were prepared this year!! I got there at 5pm, ready to camp out in line…except there was none. The tickets didn’t go on sale til 5:30. So I hung out in the shade, people watching and enjoying the silence. A friend arrived right at 5:30, and she also wondered where the crowds were. But we weren’t taking any chances–we bought tickets for the other 2 in our group, and we went to go stake out a “good” spot on the terrace. We were the 2nd group out there–so we did get a “good” spot!
A museum volunteer did let us in on a secret–since we now observe DST–the movies don’t start til close to 10pm–so the crowds don’t come so soon. After baking in the sun for 3 hours, I can understand why! And really, the crowds never did come–there were no lines for the BR, no lines to buy food, no lines for anything. Very weird, but maybe the subtitles turned people off–who knows.
Regardless, we all had a great time consuming our beverages, snacking and catching up–although we were yawning when Like Water for Chocolate started at 9:40pm!!
As we packed up at 11:30, I did some mental math and realized that I had spent more time at this, my second picnic of the day, than I had at work. Not a bad way to spend a Friday in June.
VIVA LA SUMMER!