I see I haven't written since Spring. Yike. Well, Spring sprung, Summer passed, and Jake is now 4. Amazing how time flies. I wonder where it flies to? Anyway, we made a decision this year that Jake's present from Daddy and I would be a trip or event instead of a thing, so we went to the Academy of Sciences in SF on August 28th to start the (apparently month-long) birthday festivities. We went specifically for the "Summer of Slither," which was awesome. After that, we went to Ocean Beach where Jake played tag with the waves. Fenton's on the way home, of course. I could make a whole book (and just might) of pictures of Jake playing on the beach, but I will just include my favorite. :-)
For Sir Birthdayboy's party this past weekend we held a tournament a la Ren Faire with jousting, quoits, and archery. All the kids got armor and blow up swords. The girls, who I was afraid wouldn't want armor, took to the Hello Kitty armor like fish to water and also got flower garlands with ribbons, which went over really well. It would have been lovely (and probably was for everyone but me, Ama, and Daddy - and possibly Jake) if the key to the building had fit. See, the key that I got from Sacramento Parks and Rec that said "East Portal Clubhouse Master" apparently didn't open, you know, the DOORS. And, after an hour of waiting, it turned out that Park Security, who was very nice in the face of my complete and utter panic, didn't have the key either. So there I was. 11 a.m., 50 people arriving, no power for the crock pot, no way to chill drinks or food, no tables, no chairs: nothing. CRAP. I was crying. Ama was crying. People were arriving. Jake was (unbeknownst to me who was not paying adequate attention to the sweet kid I was supposedly doing all this for) starving. Not a good scene. 
Fortunately, I have the BEST friends in the whole wide world, one of whom (as his lawyer in this matter I refuse to diulge his name. I'm sure you understand. We'll call him Superman.) opened the door with a credit card at about 11:30 and saved the day. YAY Superman! All my dear friends sprang into action, setting up tables and chairs, mixing fruit salad, covering the tables, whatever needed to be done to get ready. You know, all the stuff I had gotten to the park at 9:30 a.m. to do. So we got to joust. No quoits. No archery. No mac and cheese (Jake's one request. Sorry, baby!). But there was plenty of food, the cupcakes were awesome, if a little melty, and the kids loved the dragon jousting. The weather was wonderful (thanks Nana. If it'd been threatening rain like it is today my meltdown would have hit "hurricane force" really quickly) and everyone ELSE seemed to have a good time. 
After everyone left Jake and I passed out some of the balloons that we bought but never really put out. He got to experience making other people happy, which was a really good thing. He was also asleep at 8:20, poor kid. Of course, I was asleep at 8:40, so which of us was worse? Thanks to all who came (if you're reading this) and a special thanks to all my dear dear friends without whom the party would have been an actual tragedy, not just a logisitcal nightmare. I love you all.
Happy Birthday, my beautiful, amazing man. I love you to forever and back. Next year you have a 10 guest limit.
