Friday, September 3, 2010
Let the wedding festivities commence!
Lizzy, me, Karen (the bride-to-be!) and Stephanie celebrating at Liz's lovely bachelorette party later that day.
But I'm getting ahead of myself! So let me begin at the beginning...
Once again, despite a late bedtime, Ayize woke up at the crack of dawn. I put a DVD on low volume for him, and set him down in front of it with a box of cereal while I hurriedly dressed us both and readied our diaper bag for an outing.
I paused in my commotion, though, when Ayize shouted, "Turkey, Mama!" with great glee at the top of his lungs. Bahar's budgie was still on the dining room table from the night before, and I giggled just remembering all the fun we'd had with Pseudo-Turkey. I snapped this shot of it before carefully hiding it back behind the pencil holder on top of the desk in the TV room.
Ayize continued to watch a 1934 Mickey Mouse cartoon while I made one last trip to our bedroom to collect a few tiny toys for our outing. My old college pal, Travis, had buzzed, so we were going to stroll down the street and have a quick coffee together before he headed into work.
On my way towards the bedroom, I passed this bookshelf, and wondered why two copies of Craig's fabulous graphic novel, Blankets, were prominently displayed. Then I remembered that years ago, Jo Jo had showed me a marvelous personalized dedication Craig had drawn for him. Curious, I opened the top copy to see if memory served...
...and it did! I loved this picture the first time I saw it - so cute! - and I loved it even more now that Bahar was my actual sister.
Speaking of which...curiosity got the better of me, and I flipped open the cover of the second copy...
Whoa! Too freaking cool.
Ayize finished his breakfast and we headed out for a wander. Met Travis at nearby Common Grounds - an old favorite of mine and my high school friends, from way back in the day, long before college - and he and Ayize happily hung out while I scored a couple of drinks inside. When I came out, the two of them were chatting about Ayize's beloved Mighty Morphin Power Coins.
We set off for a long wander around the Hawthorne hood, catching up on the last - oh, decade and a half or so LOL. My coffee was delish, as always. I stopped mid-conversation, though, as we passed this gorgeous plump pumpkin on the vine...
...and was, predictably, compelled to take a photo of it. The vine had grown so long that it tumbled across the expanse of these people's front lawn, which was pretty much devoid of any other greenery, landscaping or shrubbery.
The Lone Pumpkin. I dug it.
Eventually, Travis's alarm dinged to remind him of impending work, so we said our goodbyes and parted ways. Ayize and I strolled leisurely back to Jo Jo's house, and he insisted on keeping his legs kicked out in front of him and elevated like this, all the way back. An admirable abs workout, to be sure.
Back at home, I snapped this shot of my coffee cup, reminiscing on "the good ol' days" with Jake, Tony, Geoff...and sometimes Lauri, Jeff O, Steve, Philip...
(There - the secret is out. I am a sentimental loser.)
Bahar's lovely four-day Labor Day long weekend began this morning, so we were all off to breakfast at La Petite Provence. Ayize needed to burn off some steam so we walked there.
At least, my plan was for us to walk. But he was out the gate like a shot...
...dashing happily along Jo Jo's neighborhood pathways, nature's trellises of gorgeous early-fall foliage draping us dramatically overhead...
...and still he jogged on, the entire length of the way, periodically spinning his head back to happily holler, "I racing you, Mama!" before jogging onwards.
My little sprinter in action!
Finally, we arrived at the restaurant where we met Bahar. We waited for an outdoor seat to open up, and as we did, Ayize spied on some diners.
Outside, a very hungry little boy played peek-a-boo with our dining neighbors while we awaited our delicious breakfast.
I looked over and spotted a little girl, wearing our pal from back home, Brianna's, favorite rainbow outfit! Ayize declared, "Na-Na!" (his pet name for her), though he quickly realized it was not actually her. Luckily, this cute little puppy dog, visiting all the way from Montana with its owners, distracted him from feeling too much sadness at missing his pal.
Lunch came and it was DELISH. We ate in a rush, though, because someone was getting verrrry sleepy.
We strolled home, but not half a block away from the restaurant, Little Dude was out like a light.
I hustled because I had about six more blocks to go and I only have a short window of just-fell-asleep time before transferring him from stroller to bed becomes an impossibility.
Still, I had to pause below this window to shoot a photo. Transplanted Chicagoans?? I dunno, but I think our old house had similar decor, due to resident Cubbie fan Tony. Now if only it was a White Sox banner...!
Home and he was still snoozing. And miraculously, though it took me a while to speed-walk home, and though I even paused at one point to commiserate with another strolling mama (she was on the opposite end of the coin, desperately trying to get hers down), he still peacefully snored away during the course of my comically-clumsy efforts at getting him out of the stroller and up the stairs and in the house and into bed.
Rock and roll!
I would have done a little jig...if I wasn't so effing tired.
I should have napped myself, but I was so happy to have a smite of spare time that instead, I paused to take this picture of him, peacefully snoozing among our veritable mountain of blankets and bedclothes, in Jo Jo's snug, cozy massage room with all its lovely, natural lighting.
He looked so cute, sleeping with his eyes partially-open, as he sometimes does...
Only his soft snoring gave away the fact that he was actually asleep; through his half-closed lids, his eyes never stopped moving. I wondered what visions were bouncing around in my baby's brain.
As I walked out of the room, I paused to take one more picture: this stack of many of our most beloved books that sat on the low table by the door to our bedroom. I will never look at any of these books again without remembering what my sweet brother did for us.
A couple weeks before the wedding, I was stressing about the trip. It would cost $20 to put a bag in the cargo hold each way, so I wanted to bring carry-ons only, one for each of us, since Ayize had his own seat - not difficult, since we like to travel light, with the exception of his many books - but given that it was just the two of us, and me with no stroller to restrain him in, this seemed dubious at best. Sometimes things go like clockwork, but most of the time our airport scenario plays out like something from an Adam Sandler comedy, with Ayize streaking through security and dashing away, causing a minor TSA panic, as I fumble with our shoes and hunt through my backpack for my laptop, ignorant to the major security breach happening at the behest of my beloved, but wild, child.
And we had to have the books. Ayize is a HUGE book addict, and simply cannot be without a few of his favorite tales in times of stress. He's not the kind of kid who lugs around a blanket, or a teddy bear, or sucks his thumb. But when his little world turns upside-down, when his normal routine becomes a distant dream from the past, when he is overtired and overstimulated for days on end - in short, whenever we travel LOL - he turns to his old faves as his solace. I love this about him, in fact, it's one of my favorite character traits, because I was the same way. The only time I'm not a fan of this quirk is when I have to fill a suitcase with books, and pay 20 bucks to shove it in storage because it's too damn heavy for me to lug through an airplane with a potentially-tantrumming toddler in tow.
So I had a sudden epiphany. I called my dear brother, explained my predicament, and asked if he wouldn't mind checking out one or two books from the library for me, to lighten my load. He went a step further and suggested I use his library card to place online holds at his local branch for as many books as I thought Ayize would like, so that I would have no book load whatsoever (minus the one single book I carried onboard, The Three Little Rigs, an in-flight necessity).
I brazenly held about a dozen books online, and - bless his soul - my brother claimed it was no problem to trot over there and lug what must have been twenty pounds of kids' books back to his house.
Thanks, bro! You are truly a cut above.
Anyhow, Ayize had a nice long snooze, and when he woke up, we headed out for an afternoon adventure.
Our original destination had to be modified to a new location because of crazy Labor Day weekend traffic already clogging all the highways. So we stopped in this parking lot to turn around, where I enjoyed this sign...
(damn, must be one hell of a beer & burger!)
...and made our way towards Oxbow Regional Park instead. The scenery en route was breathtaking. This was a Christmas tree farm.
Some beautiful old-growth forest (I think). And an accidental self-portrait, I'm noticing, as I look at the sideview mirror. Hee hee hee!
Hurrah! We're here!! This was my and Ayize's first time to the park, though Jo Jo has been many times - he used to come here often to camp.
Man, what a road!
We parked at the top of a steep hill. Jo Jo and I unloaded the car while Ayize raced ahead, excitedly. He stopped halfway down to wait for us, though, when the super-steep pitch got just a wee bit too intimidating.
At the bottom of the hill, having our first real view of the gorgeous river - you can see it forking in the distance behind Ayize.
When Jo Jo had said there was a river here, I had no idea it was gonna be a river! I was thinking a trickle. This was a dang stream, a wake, crazy currents et. al. Too cool!
Down to the water's edge. It was refreshingly-cool. There were huge rocks all over the place, and little pods of cute fish swimming every which way.
Too much mud and water for me to deal with Ayize wearing clothes, so I stripped him down to the dipes. Then my outdoor explorer waded in. He found a stick and began to "hunt" fish.
My attractive makeshift bikini LOL - really just my unattractively-tucked in halter over my modified man-thong shorts. I think I scared all the other river folk away with my freaky fashion. Not a good look!
Meanwhile, the fish hunter added a large stone to his arsenal...
...located his pitiable prey...
...took careful aim, and...
"DUZZZJJHHH! I smashing you!"
Okay, methinks it's about time to give The Three Little Rigs a rest. This boy was taking the tome entirely too much to heart.
Jo Jo and I trying - with difficulty - not to laugh as we lectured Ayize on the importance of not throwing rocks at fish (we were actually much more worried about injured toes, but the fish theory seemed to appeal to him more, being a budding animal lover).
The rock-throwing stopped, and we enjoyed ourselves for a good while, but then it began anew. After two warnings, Ayize was removed from the premises by Mean Old Mommy, much to his dismay. He had a minor mini-rage - really more of a toddler hissy fit - but then happily complied with our suggestion that he take a "nature walk" with us instead.
As usual, he trotted off ahead to scout out the surroundings and verify it was safe to proceed. Whatever would we do without our fearless leader??
Fearless Leader, waaaay up ahead of us on the path (I used a mega-zoom for this shot), doing a jolly jig, clapping his hands merrily, and singing a little tune to himself.
We rounded a bend shortly after, and came across this lovely view of the river below. Then the path turned away from the water again for a bit...
...and passed among these broken trees. Here, Fearless Leader was shouting, "Come on, Mama! Come on, Unca Jo Jo!" So we came on...
...and at the end of that section of path, we came to a bank that dropped steeply down to the water below. We paused for some snuggles (all was apparently forgiven from The River and Rock Episode)...
...and some silly pretend "I'll-swing-you-into-river-you-silly-billy-you" games!
Afterwards, we hiked around another bend and found ourselves at the foot of this impressive staircase. Ayize proudly tackled them on his own. The angle of this shot betrays the steepness of the stairs, and the depth and height of each step...
...but if you look closely at this shot from the top looking down, you can see that it was no mean feat for a two-year-old to scale them solo.
Way to go, Little Man!
A well-deserved victory dance by the (defunct) fire pit!
Oops! The victory dance quickly turned into a "I-shall-reach-into-the-defunct-fire-pit-and-scoop-great-handfuls-of-charred-ash" dance. Whatever happened to my messy, crazy kid?? He's recently been replaced by a bit of a neat freak, who was pretty bummed to look down in the midst of his impromptu celebration at his charcoal-covered hands. "Mama, I dirty!"
I grabbed wipes and was on it.
Making our way back towards the car. We hit the main road and climbed it towards the parking lot, passing dozens of occupied campsites along the way (all the overnight spots were filled, as an irate fellow driver had told us on our way in).
Another jolly jig, as we hiked down the main road of the park towards the car.
All aboard! The 5:30 Express now leaving for Portland, Oregon, and all points west!
We were running pretty late, and traffic was still slightly cloggy, so we went straight to my girlfriend Liz's house in NE Portland for the bachelorette party. Jo Jo was dropping me off and heading out to dinner with friends, but he would come back to grab us later.
As we pulled into Liz's driveway, I calmly began to unload our stroller and a change of clothes, but on the inside I was popping like a string of firecrackers.
HUZZAH!
The wedding weekend was off to its official start and I was super-excited to be reuniting with so many wonderful old friends in just a few seconds!
In we waltzed...
Okay, well I waltzed in. Ayize just sort-of slunk in slowly, spy-style. LOL
One of the first people I saw was my old pal Erica and her adorable daughter, who displayed the lovely pattern the henna artist had made on her arm.
Lizzy, one of my best and dearest pals, on the far left; these photos are taken in her gorgeous house. Karen, the beautiful bride - not blushing, and calm as could be! I was so thrilled to see her!
CONGRATS, KAREN & JAMES!
Stephanie is next, another lovely old friend from high school, and finally, Dhyana, a new friend, newly-met this weekend, and such an amazing sweetie! We totally dipped into a lovely old vintage bottle of wine Lizzy earned at one of her gigs - a really expensive, high-class red - got tipsy immediately, and had a hilarious conversation, of which I remember almost nothing. Like I said, it was some fiiiiine wine!
A close-up of Karen's right arm. She still had the left arm and both legs to go. This henna artist was amazing. It was so much fun to see the patterns emerge on everyone's bodies!
I wandered out to the front porch to see what my kid was getting into. He had his Matchbox cars fire station set out, the one from the garage sale, and was presiding quite lordly over a group of three other kids, including Erica's daughter, a two-and-a-half-year-old son of another of Karen's friends, and Erica's four-year-old son. He was dictating who could use which truck, and simultaneously showing off his scary spider. It was toddler mayhem.
I ducked back inside to the adult world.
Karen was just having her left hand finished.
So beautiful!
Her groom's name, James, was hidden in the design. Tradition has it that he is not allowed to bring her home after their wedding until he finds his own name in the pattern. Good luck, dude!
The toddlers had grown tired of El Presidente's antics and gone their separate ways. Ayize, bored, began to scour the party for balloons within reach. Whenever he got his hands on one, he rolled on top of it on his belly, over and over, until it finally popped. Then he would leap to his feet, screeching with delight, and run in a few tight circles, giddy with glee, before heading out to find his next "victim".
The other kids thought this was a great game, and soon the house filled with the sounds of popping balloons and giggles.
Sweet Dhyana had brought cool party favors for everyone. The kids had those cherry ring pops that we all loved as kids, and for the adults, she brought these Chinese herb tablets which, when dissolved on the tongue, turn everything sour into sweet-tasting for several hours. She had also brought an assortment of lemons for those who chose to partake.
Ayize snagged a box of the herb tablets from the assembled assortment in a basket on Liz's kitchen table and began to run around the party, waving the box at everyone and talking about his "candy". Dhyana finally managed to wrest it away from him by trading it for a ring pop. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the sticky, bulbous red thing, but he gave it the old college try...
...albeit reluctantly...
...et, voila! A "wowwy-pop" fanatic is born! It took him about two minutes to suck this thing down to the hub, and he was an instant convert.
I wandered off to snap this cute family photo of Karen's friend, his two-and-a-half-year-old son, and their new baby girl, and when I next spotted Ayize...
...he was standing with Erica's kids by the kitchen, grinning wildly, sucking on another pop (who knows how many he had that night total), and they each had pops, too. "He gave them to us!" they informed me happily. "He was just giving them out."
Apparently, Ayize had appointed himself designated sugar-sharer of the night.
Is that another pop I see in his hand?? Sigh.
The other two-and-a-half-year-old also had a pop now, so it looked like the sharing-the-wealth thing was still going full swing. Meanwhile, new dad Dan (congratulations!) had joined the party and was enjoying beer and adult company.
Another random party picture. I was under the influence so I was prone to random shooting...you all know how that goes.
It was my turn for henna. I sat down on the chair and my (yet another pop??) erstwhile son materialized from out of nowhere to stare, wide-eyed, at the lady who was writing graffiti all over his mama.
Yay, I loved my design!
Marty and Florence and their gorgeous new baby girl arrived on scene and gamely posed for me, flanked on either side by Stephanie and Lizzy. I was so happy to meet the sweet baby at long last!
Baby and mama!
Meanwhile, in the background, you can see Ayize's arm as he makes his way towards the bathroom door. Of course, you can also see it's closed.
When that avenue failed, he turned towards the kitchen. I wandered back into the living room to socialize, but a second later, I heard laughter coming from the kitchen, and Ayize's name being spoken, and raced back in to find...
...he had stripped himself, removed his pull-up, and was preparing to lay a poopers on poor Lizzy's linoleum! I hurriedly pulled the pull-up back on - yikes! - and told him to poop in it, which he cheerfully, and obediently did a moment later.
Phew! Close call.
Nothing ruins a party faster than a few stray dookey bombs!
Diaper changed, he was apparently ready for a refill (stomach-ly speaking) because he bum-rushed the popcorn and the delicious desserts Dan had brought immediately after.
My girl Rachel had arrived on-scene, one of my nearest and dearest high school pals, and she was in the middle of an animated conversation with Dhyana, which Ayize kept interrupting because he wanted to bring her handfuls of popcorn to share (he was really taking this self-appointed designated-distributor position to heart).
She made the mistake of throwing a piece in the air and catching it with her mouth once, and that was it for him - he was entranced by the magic. She had to do it again...and again...and again. Bless her soul!
She missed about three pieces in a row, then successfully caught one, and for some reason, the successful catch sent Ayize into gales of giggles. He rolled all over and around the carpet on his back. Who knew popcorn could be so funny??
Jo Jo returned to pick me up and ended up staying for a good long while. I was really happy he had a chance to hang out with so many old friends. It was like a mini-high-school reunion!
Here is Stephanie, our beautiful bride-to-be Karen, and Dan, all flanking Jo Jo.
Karen is finally finished. Look at those cute legs! I love me some henna!!
I can just hear Rachel shouting, "SHUT UP!" These two were dying laughing.
Ayize tried to bring Rachel yet more popcorn. I interceded, and was the unexpected recipient of a giant smooch.
A smooch from my beloved son! And...the moment was caught on film! Priceless!!
More popcorn antics from Rachel, plus Ayize successfully pops this poor red balloon (notice the shreds of its carcass all around him), results in more celebratory rolling.
Lizzy's henna wrist band turned out beautifully!
Rachel drove Ayize's little car up and down her sandal. He was already scandalously in love with her and this shared love of cars only fanned the flames of his passionate crush.
He even let her put this green hairpiece on him!
Then she rocked it herself.
"I want to pump you up!"
Oops. Press pause on the Arnold Schwarzenegger stuff...the lady needs to spray your henna, sista.
Hee hee hee, okay back in the saddle. Rachel and Stephanie.
The party was still going strong but my Little Guy was finally starting to fade. It was past 10 - past midnight, our time - so that was no great surprise. He and Jo Jo cleaned up some markers by the front door they found lying around (I'm so down with this neat freak phase!) while I packed up our stuff and sadly said goodbye to my gaggle of great friends. I was cheered though, at the thought of seeing everyone again in the morning.
What a day! What a night! What a weekend-to-be!
Jo and I drove home, a chatty Ayize behind us in the backseat. My little party animal! I was very proud of him for being such a good boy during this whole long - but extremely, amazingly lovely - day! And I was so grateful to Jo Jo for spending the afternoon showing us around Oxbow Park. It had been a red-letter day indeed!
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