ITS THE CRAZY TRAIN

For 3 consecutive nights, Adrian was up waaay past his bedtime. Last night, it was nearly 10 before he was asleep. It's been a crazy busy weekend, and tomorrow is the last of it.

Thursday we hosted The BarBQue That Wasn't.
We invited 13 people. 3 called in advance to let us know they had prior engagements and would be unable to attend. 4 cancelled the day of, due to last minute work emergencies and sick kids. 1 never called, never showed. 2 called an hour before and said that maybe they'd catch us over the weekend. 1 called and was "on the way" for 4 hours before falling asleep.
We had 2 people show up. For a ten-person feast. I tried my best to make them feel comfy and welcome, but they didn't arrive until 7:30, at which point Adrian was laying prone on the couch with a glazed look in his eye.
When I got the call about the work emergency, I was pretty sure the whole thing was done for. The experience really put me off entertaining.

Friday Aaron's mom (Nina) and sister (Erica) came to town to take Adrian to his frog song class at the zoo. They got in around 11, and we bopped around in the yard while we waited for Fiona to get up from her nap. We had a great plan that involved all of us going to the zoo, walking around, grabbing dinner & then Aaron, Fion & I would take off and head home while the rest stayed for class*. This plan would have worked, but we didn't leave the house until 3--it takes 45 minutes to get to the zoo. There was construction on I-55--they had to squish 3 lanes of traffic down to 1 so that a guy could put tape on the road. And they had a lane closure on IL-171. So our 45 minute trip turned into an hour and a quarter trip. We walked through the gates of the zoo 10 minutes before the animal houses closed. Fion got a 40 minute tour of the outdoor animals. As we were leaving, she kept saying "see animals! yes! please! good girl!" and the further from the zoo we got, the more plaintive her statement until finally we had full-on tears and body tremors. It was AWFUL. At one point she was crying and apologizing "sorry sorry sorry! see animals! please!"
We got her calmed down enough to meet Nina, Erica & AD for dinner. When we put her back in the Jeep it was the same litany of "see animals, yes, please, good girl". So what could we do but....

On Saturday: BACK TO THE ZOO.
We got there at 10:30 and left at 3:30. All sorts of animals were seen: bears, otters, monkeys, alligators, giraffes, zebras, and of course the hoard of geese that populate the zoo grounds. Adrian fell asleep in the car on the ride home & then continued to sleep for 2 more hours. When he woke up he was fairly certain it was morning and he had slept all night. He ate dinner and then he & Erica made ice cream sundaes. Fion ate dinner and was shuttled off to bed. After dinner, there was a walk around the block, and much discussion about the days events.

Today:
Fiona was up at 6:30. (Darn you 5:30 sunrise!) Adrian slept until 7. Nina, Adrian & Erica walked down to Zettlmeier's Bakerei for an assortment of breakfast goodies. Meanwhile, Fiona stayed home and pitched fits, in between watching a pair of mallards (male & female) waddle down the middle of our street. I tossed Adrian outside at 11:30 for failing to eat lunch & being generally obnoxious while the rest of us were trying to hold conversations. He came back in to eat at 1:20 thanks to Erica's urgings. At 12, Fion was sleeping, Nina was touching up the walls, Erica & AD were outside scrubbing the siding on the house, so I went to work in the yard. I planted corn and melons, tickseed and bee balm. I weeded, watered, and swept. I painted giant planters yellow, and then planted stuff in them. I hung out our flag out on the giant maple in the front yard. I investigated lichen with Adrian using a magnifying glass and we added the word "symbiosis" to his vocabulary.
All in all, a long and busy day. And now I am to bed. Pictures....tomorrow, Tuesday latest.

*A class which turned out to be pretty fantastic. They went to the "behind the scenes" swamp and caught frogs with nets. Adrian was smiley about the experience all weekend long.