Monday, May 23, 2005

Here it is bedtime (or past) Monday eve. Saturday we (I) had our first nite away from the kids. It was one of Pete's high school buddies and pretty much the whole gang came out for it. Jay who we used to see alot when we lived in San Diego came up - unfortunately sans very pregnant wife and kids - and he stayed over with us. Dan & girlfriend Karen from Chicago made it out sans Dan's son Emmet - they stayed with us Friday eve. Dave & Wendy made it out from DC. We had them all plus Rick (local) and fiance Jean over for dinner Friday. When I extended the offer to host I was offering up pizza and salad but Pete had other plans. Tri-tip, couscous, asparagus, salad and desert it turned out to be. Fortunately a fairly easy menu altho required trips to a couple different grocery stores. 9 people is also pushing it for seating in our dining area. We had to have 2 adjacent (but separate) tables plus a kiddie table for #10 & 11 otherwise known as my children. The kids were as sweet as you could want fortunately even tho bedtime got pushed until about 10 (instead of the usual 8ish). I was feeling a bit under the weather for the days leading up to it and really tired. Pete cleaned up the place and set the table the night before which was a huge help. I really just wanted to go shopping Friday a.m. when kids were at school and get something to wear to the wedding. I did manage a whirlwind shopping trip and still had time to work on house and prep food. I jetisoned the idea of yoga however. When I woke up on Saturday I had really tingly fingers and my wrists were hurting a bit and Friday nite and Sat I noticed my knees really hurting when I sat down or stood up. Weird. Then I noticed a light rash on my legs - ah ha. Perhaps I had Fifth Disease! Otherwise known as "slapcheek". Usually a kiddie thing when they have really pink cheeks and a rash elsewhere. Quincy had it the Wed following our return from Costa Rica which I think means he got it first day back at school. By the time the rash shows up you are no longer contagious. Quite a few of his classmates had had it and another mom had shown me her rash. A quick internet search confirmed symptoms for adults - joint pain with or without rash. Phew - at least the pain wasnt the sudden onset of rheumatoid arthritis! I noticed as the day went on (and the pain) that I had quite a bit of swelling in my hands, ankles, feet etc. I still had swelling this morning in my hands and it was really hard to close my fingers all the way but now I can see my bones again and can join my hands together and fold my arms. Ahh how nice! Only a bit of pain. I have to say I have much more sympathy for Mom & Dave's swelling and Phyllis' arthritis now!

On Saturday a bit after noon we dropped the kids off with "cousin phil". The kids were quite excited by the prospect as he had promised tent city and camping out in the back yard to go with the usual zip line and swinging. He was bravely taking on all 4 kids pretty much singlehanded as Julia had another committment that had her tied up most of the day and eve. I understand he did resort to about an hour of TV in the evening and Aidan tells me he thought Phil was asleep for part of it - but that is fine - Phil is more active and engaged with kids than just about anyone I know. The rest of us get tired watching him. As we left the next day Aidan asked when he could have another sleep over at Phils. Quincy was quick to say he didn't want another sleepover! But he did have a very good time. We headed up to Napa with Jay & Karen in our car - Dan had gone before the rest of us woke (we had hit the hay well after midnite) to play golf with other wedding folk. We checked in at the Silverado Country Club and Pete and I managed a brief swim before dressing for the 6 p.m. wedding at Auberge De Soleil. Pete and I had had appetizers at their outdoor bar once a few years back - fabulous food and fabulous view out over Napa. A bus shuttled a bunch of us there (20 min away). The wedding was on the patio just below and to the side of the bar so we had the same great setting. Unfortunatley we could hear the murmur of the bar patrons when we quieted down for the actual service but it didnt' detract too much. Dinner followed inside. James (groom) lives a few miles south of here but I hadnt seen him since his fiance/wife had a baby - and Sophia is now a year old roughly - she and a cousin were in the wedding party. I also hadnt seen his best man Bill (or wife Jen) in the same amount of time - during which they moved back to the bay area and got pregnant with twins and delivered those twins a month ago. It was Jen's first night away from the kids too! She currently has a night nurse and a day nanny so the kids were in good hands.

We got back to the hotel a bit after midnight and crashed. All of us except the groom and bride met up for brunch at the county club. It was quite good and was nice to see people again altho we all have hopes to reunite next spring for Rick's wedding. Pete and I didn't much appreciate the Silverado - too country clubby and too boring really but the food was decent. Rooms were also small but still expensive even after the slight wedding party discount. Sunday people went off in various directions and Pete & I came back alone to rescue our kids who promptly passed out on the drive home - really unusual for Aidan but a late night followed by an action packed day with thec ousins - he deserved to pass out! I got to see Dave, Wendy, Jay and Rick a last time when they came over for a quick dinner of pizza and salad before heading off with Pete to help Return of the Sith with its recordbreaking 1st weekend totals. I gratefully put the kids to bed and watched a bit of TV. I tried to knit but gave it up after a few stitches - too painful. Pete wasnt too impressed with the movie but I may rent the video when the time comes altho I realized that I never saw the movie that proceeded this one either!

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