Mini Reunion

... and so endeth my streak of blogging every single day. But at least I've only skipped one day, so I'm not *too* off the habit. Besides, I think I had a valid excuse-- yesterday was a fun-filled, jam-packed day :-)

It started off with a trip to the Santa Barbara Zoo. Aside from a baby shower that afternoon and the usual chores/errands, I didn't have any plans for Saturday until I spied a friend's FB status about going there for snow day. Snow! The little man has been clamoring for snow since, oh, I don't even know when. He wants to drive up to the mountains where Daddy used to live, to play in the snow. He is convinced that it would be ultra cool to move to a place with snowy climes. So when I learned that the zoo was having snow that day, I decided it would not only be fun to go, but a great opportunity to see an old high school friend I haven't seen since graduation 16 years ago.

After getting turned around several times due to construction closing off the normal freeway ramps, and then struggling to find parking, we finally arrived at the long-awaited snow and worked up a surprising sweat throwing snowballs at each other and building mini snowmen. And after playing some phone tag, we finally met up with her, her husband, and their little daughter, who is every bit as adorable as I've seen in their photos. It was great seeing her after all these years (and I don't think she's changed a bit!). It felt a bit surreal to see ourselves as wives and mothers now. And it was amusing to find out that Todd isn't the only one who throws the whole "I don't like you" pout at his parents when he doesn't want to do something that's asked of him ;-)

The morning and early afternoon flew by fast, and I had to head out to a baby shower at the Four Seasons Biltmore between Santa Barbara and Montecito. It was so near the zoo (which itself is about 13 miles south of our place) that Allan and I took separate cars so I could just head straight there from the zoo. When I arrived I was greeted with the splendor that is typical of such an upscale hotel. We had afternoon tea (the expectant mother's sister, who arranged the shower, lives in the UK), where I decided to try the peaches-and-ginger infused black tea. We started off with finger sandwiches and then moved to scones and other assorted, delicious pastries. It was all very fancy. Even the bathrooms had me confused a bit when I washed my hands and couldn't find paper towels with which to dry them-- instead there were trays of rolled-up washcloths for our use. It felt like such a waste to use one just to dry my hands and throw it into the hamper for washing. Knowing that I would be returning to the bathroom again during the course of the shower (and I did, considering I downed the entire pot of tea), I felt like I should be taking the towel with me to reuse until my last bathroom visit ;-)

The shower itself was a lot of fun, and definitely a first experience for me-- such luxury! The games were fun, the company was great, and even the gift-opening was amusing, as the mom-to-be received TWO baby bathtubs and 4-5 packages of baby toiletries. If nothing else, she'll certainly have a very clean baby!

So, that was shower #2 done with-- only one more to go in January :-)

By the time I arrived back home that evening, I had just enough energy to nibble on some pizza and watch movies with my boys before beginning the daily get-ready-for-bed routine. Speaking of bed, it's high time I finished this and headed there, myself, now! Good night!