A Strong Community

Can I just say that I love my local community? I've been a resident of my neighborhood for nearly 6 years, but it's only in the past year or two that I've felt like I've been a community resident. Today proved it yet again.

I brought The Girl to her ballet class yesterday morning. I had planned to walk there, but The Boy was limping along, so we had to abort the mission and drive instead. I passed Allison and her kids along the way. The Girl, The Baby, and I waited for them after parking The Great White Moose, but they had stopped to chat with Caroline D. and her family, who were on their way home from the YMCA. So we went into ballet instead, where we ran into Beth T. and her daughter, and a few friends from various other classes. As soon as we got inside, The Girl told me to "go," so I walked over to Starbucks with The Baby and Allison.

Afterwards, I picked up The Dad and The Boy, and we joined Allison and her family at Caroline D.'s house to hang out. The Boy stayed behind to play with the boys, and The Dad and I took The Girl, The Baby, and Allison's daughter, Peri, with us to lunch at our favorite breakfast-lunch spot, Curio Cafe. The Dad was quite cute with the girls, holding hands with each one across the street. I had the Plato Tipico ($7.95), which has become my new favorite CC dish, The Dad had his favorite CC dish, the steak sandwich ($7.50), The Girl got the alphabet noodles and cheese ($3.50), The Baby had eggs-potatoes-and-toast ($3.50), and Peri got the grilled cheese ($3.50). Yum! Afterwards, we came back to our house to let The Baby nap and let the little girls play: kitchen, dress-up, and coloring.

Peri's mom picked her up, and we took The Baby and The Girl and headed back to Caroline D.'s house, where we dropped off the little ones and picked up The Boy. Then we headed to Uptown to attend Uncle Bad's birthday BBQ. The Boy left with Grandma and Grandpa Naperville after about 1/2 an hour; they took him to visit Super Grandpa in Indiana. It was odd being at an adult party! I think The Girl and The Baby may have had a better time attending a birthday party at Caroline D.'s neighbor's house.

It was a great day. I also fell asleep at 8:30 and got a solid and rejuvenating 12 hours of sleep.