With a title like that, why bother writing anything else?
Right?
The month of June is over, marking the fact that a whole bunch of kids are now a year older!
Nephew Milo has had a love of ping pongs and ping pong paddles since, well … I remember him just learning to walk, wobbling around with a ping pong paddle. Not doing anything but holding it. Then when he started talking, he would say, “Ping pong paddle!” clear as day. Just one of those things where everything lined up in the universe when he first saw them and he fell in love with ping pongs and ping pong paddles.
Given that love, his mother decided the theme for his 2nd birthday party would be ping pong. All the food was in the shape of a ping pong — even the cake. Mini pita bread on popsicle sticks were the ping pong paddles and every adult had to play in the “tournament,” with the winner being judged by the kids — and bribing of the judges was encouraged.
Somehow Uncle Tony “won” the tournament. We were all so surprised.
The next birthday party was for my friend, Grace’s daughter, Mia, who turned 4. (Can someone tell me how all the commas are supposed to go in that sentence? Nina?) For the most part, Mia has had an undying love for all things that are bug related. Snails, roly-polys, ants, flowers, spiders… they’re all her friends. Much to her mother’s chagrin. This past year or so, she’s also developed an affection for Tinkerbell. Who knew Tinkerbell also loved Mia?
And the balloon artist? This guy was really good. Not only with his balloon creations, but with the kids. I found myself entertained by him, and could have watched him create balloon creatures for hours.
After Mia’s party, we headed over to get gas, and on a whim, decided to stroll through the strip mall in which the gas station was located. As we rounded the corner, we spotted Tony’s brother, who was hanging out with a bunch of bikes. Also known as working (for him). We had nothing on our calendar, so we decided to sit and visit with him.
This is actually Tony in the picture, but trust me when I tell you, all those bikes are NOT Tony’s…
Who should stroll by, but Captain Jack Sparrow! And the balloon guy had a gig down at the end, so we went to get the nephews some balloon swords and surreptitiously watched Sparrow pose with random kids. It was weird; we felt like it was just a continuation of Mia’s birthday party, except Mia wasn’t there and our nephews were. Weird.
This weekend, we get a holiday from birthday parties (don’t worry, we have two next weekend to make up for the time off). To kick the weekend off, we went yesterday and saw Eclipse. Something always goes wonky when we go to movie premieres and yesterday was no exception. The movie started, but the sound died and switched to playing the radio, and the curtains in front of the screen didn’t open all the way. They couldn’t fix it, so they upgraded us all into the IMAX theater. Oh my, IMAX. Can you say LARGE SCREEN with dizzying proportions? I can now say with certainty that even vampires have pores and nose hairs… and Taylor Lautner has very nice abs.
How big does a screen need to be anyway? See that guy way down there? That’s actually a concession stand.
Today was a relaxing, but busy day. We were on the go from the moment we got up. But it was relaxing because it was stuff we wanted to do… you know, like swimming (for me), basketball (for him). A deep tissue massage (for me), and another movie (for him). A drive in my convertible and working on a garden (both of us). Gaming (for him) and blogging (for me).
Just a nice day of freedom. Happy 4th of July.
Jammie J's Quest 
You sure covered a lot of ground in this post. How inventive was that Ping Pong Birthday Celebration…And he is 2?? Did he “het it” all?
LOVE those Wing Costunes…(At our recent Ladies Who Lunch I had these adorable little spindly Bears with very pretty pastel wings for everyone–I gess this is kind of a popular thing these days…..!
And IMAX…WOW!
It sounds like a Perfect Weekend, my dear….A VERY HAPPY 4th TO YOU AND TONY!
All of the birthday parties we’ve been to have been so creative. I don’t know how these moms do it. I feel soooo deprived. My mom never did anything so elaborate! hehe
And, IMAX, yes… wow! 🙂
After all the proof reading you’ve done of my work, I defer to you when it comes to where to put commas.
I’d LOVE to work at a bike shop! Though it probably couldn’t match my current salary. Either that or I’d spend it all on buying the bikes at the store! Looked at a few this weekend and had to slowly walk away.
Hope you and Tony have a wonderful weekend!
HA! Well, you’re no help at all re: the commas. Sheez. 😆
Hmmm, well, my brother-in-law actually works as a designer at the manufacturer of those bikes. Which made it even crazier that he was working at the mall that day.
I can’t believe the weekend is gone already!
Have a great weekend!
Thank you!
LOL. Ping pong party! That’s awesome. 😀
Did you see the same balloon guy there? He said something about seeing some of my friends at the district, but I didn’t know who…
I was SO glad when Mia started loving Tinkerbell because a fairy party’s so much easier to throw than a bug party. hehe.
I don’t know anything about the Twilight actors except that Robert P is not good looking. Kristen Stewart has dead eyes. And Taylor L has a beautiful abs. hehe. Oh, and Taylor also seems to be an all around nice guy, as opposed to the other 2, who are kind of douche-y. hehe.
Yep, we pretty much just stalked your balloon guy on Mia’s birthday. hehe Not creepy at all, I swear! I think he gave special treatment to our nephews because he knew I was your friend. It’s nice to “know” people. hehe
Not to mention, Tinkerbells are so much easier to find than a person dressed up like a roly-poly or snail, right?
You know, you’re right about the three Twilight actors… and let’s not forget Dakota Fanning. She’s also got a fairly decently sized role in these movies. Also, Taylor, as “beautiful” as he is, doesn’t seem to be stuck on himself. heh
I soooo agree with Grace on the actors. what DO folks see in RP? he’s kind of creepy looking….
Oh well, don’t you just love those parties. The ones for small kids are the best… when they get older, it gets all…. uncool to have adults at the party lol.
Happy 4th, um 2 days late.
I think it’s RP’s eyebrows. They’re so BIG! And, you know, that’s something he could change, so I don’t feel bad judging.
Seeing how creative the kids’ moms are is just so fun. 🙂
Happy 4th to you too. 🙂
love you sweetie, we had a great weekends. XXOXXOXOXO
We need more weekends and longer ones! xoxo
Silly.
I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that Mia is 4. That seems crazy. Glad you had a fun weekend.
I know, I can’t believe she’s 4 either. It’s kind of mind blowing.
I LOVE the idea for the ping-pong-themed party!! Your nephew should meet my dad, who won the U.S. Open Table Tennis Championship back in ’71. Now that’s a man who could use a ping-pong-themed party.
I don’t know how I missed this post, between the wonderful title and the fact that you actually addressed me in it. (What an honor!) So, since you asked, here’s my take on where the commas should go.
Here’s your sentence:
The next birthday party was for my friend, Grace’s daughter, Mia, who turned 4.
I would re-write it as either this:
The next birthday party was for my friend Grace’s daughter, Mia, who turned 4.
Should there be commas there? Perhaps. But it’s too confusing and awkward to have them.
Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend. Hope you’re having a good week!
Wow — your dad sounds pretty cool! 🙂
Re: the commas, I agonized over that sentence way too long! I put the comma in and took it out, rather like the hokey pokey. I guess it’s up the author to pick what seems best in this instance? Confusing and awkward kinda sums it up for me on that sentence. 🙂