Bash

Awesome weekend!

Saturday afternoon was the annual summer bash. We went to a park near KT and Kevin's, and it really couldn't have been much nicer. They staked out a couple of picnic benches in the shade, with a grill, a large open area on one side (for the water-gun fight) and a toddler playground on the other, and a big-kid playground just on the other side of the open area, so we could let the older kids run free and still keep an eye on them. The weather, despite reports of it getting up into the 90s, stayed in the mid-to-high 80s, exactly right to keep the water-gunners from getting chilled but not drenching the rest of us in sweat.

There were old friends from far away -- Karen, of course, and Justin had come in from San Francisco. And other old friends that I hadn't seen for years, like T and Sara. And of course friends that I see fairly frequently but am always happy to see again, like Elizabeth and Dave.

Penny and Jess had a fantastic time running all over and climbing on the playgrounds and shooting water guns and generally wearing themselves completely out. Matt and I lowballed her insulin dosages to account for the extra activity, and she stayed almost entirely within range all day -- one mini-low, which was so close to in-range that it barely counted. I felt pretty good about that.

Alex was fantastic and adorable -- he clung close to Matt and I, but he was willing to wave "hello" to people on request, and eventually relaxed enough to start jabbering. He did have a little meltdown at one point, but Matt took him for a walk down a secluded path and he calmed down pretty quickly and was great for the rest of the afternoon, so it was probably simple overstimulation more than anything else. He loved the playground, bouncing back and forth between the swings and the slide with great glee. And though Matt or I hovered protectively, he climbed the stairs for the slide, sat down and inched onto the chute, and came down entirely by himself, without so much as a steadying hand.

We had good food and great fun, and it was, all in all, a spectacularly fun afternoon. We didn't leave until 6:30, and then only because Alex was beginning to show signs of oncoming exhaustion.