Life’s a Party

Last week was a blur. I drove up to Portland on Monday and Tuesday to attend the CC Parent Practicum there (so that I could also attend Essentials Tutor Training). I drove by myself and it was a bit nerve-wracking. I don’t drive in Portland well, I hit rush hour coming and going, and I had never been to this location before. It was about 1.75-2 hours each way. The practicum was fantastic, but I was exhausted by Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning I made it about 25 minutes into the drive and realized I was much too sick to drive the rest of the way. I turned around and drove home and was mostly in bed from 7:30ish am until 8:30 am the next morning. About 24 hours in bed. It would have been much nicer if I hadn’t felt so sick on Wednesday.

Thursday and Friday were a complete blur. I don’t even remember those days. Errands and whatnot. Oh, and I spent one of them reading Lizzy and Jane.

Saturday we attended our best friends’ joint Harry Potter birthday party. This year, Char chose to hold the party for McKinnon and Monet at our local vintage roller skating rink. When I say vintage, I mean that it was the small town roller skating rink from my childhood, and it has probably been 30 years or more since I skated there. It’s been closed most of these years and it’s now in the middle of construction, reduced in size, and mostly rented out for other reasons—definitely not restored to it’s original charm, ha! [Between the construction and the terrible lighting, the pictures didn’t turn out well.] But oh my goodness. I had the best time ever and I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face.

Russ and I were the only adults skating, and the others were totally missing out. [ahem] I like to think that the kids were astounded by our mad skillz. And watching the kids crash and fall and grip the walls made me realize that they have been missing out on a great American childhood tradition by not having skated before and often. Ivy had given Lola a pair of her old roller skates (and Ivy has been using mine from my childhood!!), and Lola has been wearing them around the house over the past year or so even though they are much too big, so Lola had a huge advantage on the skate floor. She did fantastic! It was so cute to see Russ skating with her. Russ and I even held hands and skated together. I felt like a kid again. [grin] We are definitely going to get together and rent the rink a few times this winter.

Today after church and a VBS helpers meeting, we drove to our friend Bob’s house for his annual summer party at his gorgeous house on Lake Oswego. We were crunched for time, so I was busy visiting with friends or watching the kids take a quick dip in the lake before we rushed home and drove straight for VBS (or “Kids Kamp” at church) where Lola is attending for the first time and Levi and Luke are helping. Then I rushed home and tried to do some laundry and other prep work before Russ flies out for a business trip early in the morning and we head out for another adventurous day of hiking (and more evening VBS all week long).

I love summer. I really do.