Brief Weekend Update

Saturday: G. took the kids to the play area at AT&T Park while Steven and I ran errands for Sunday's exciting extravaganza (see below). Alas, April and Simone are too short for the really big slide, and another slide was cordoned off. But the third slide seemed to be a big hit. There was some private event for kids going on down on the field so my children also got to take home home-run whiffle balls.

I also got to overhear SF Giants staff talking about Melky Cabrera.

Sunday was the twins' birthday party, held at Aquatic Park. It was a tiger-dinosaur birthday party because April requested tigers and Simone requested dinos as a theme. We had a tiger-striped cake with dinosaur toppers and we played Pin the Tail on the Tiger and Dinosaur Ring Toss. Sort of -- 4 year-olds are not quite ready for ring toss, it turns out, but it was just as much fun either asking Mommy to throw the rings and laughing when she missed, or just adorning the inflatable T. rex in bangles and tail rings. Then we let the kids run around and play in the water feature (they tried to make a beach) and on the swings and slides while the adults sat in the shade and chatted.

An aside: tiger tails consisted of lengths of tiger ribbon plus a swatch of black marabou boa at the bottom and a "Happy Birthday" sticker up top. I was asked, "did you spend hours with the hot glue gun putting those together?" And I said "more like Elmer's and 10 minutes." Martha Stewart I ain't, but if the marabou didn't clue you in, queer I am.

The party was so much fun. And big! Lots of kids came and played. We were right by the water so the weather was perfect.

And now my children are 4 years old. It's been a wild half-decade, folks.

The Kindergarten Slog Has Begun

it is October 1 and that's when many schools announce their school tour dates and such. So I've slapped together a spreadsheet and broken out my datebook and I'm ready to go.

If I don't have a meltdown triggered by bureaucracy, systemic class and race inequalities, budget issues (mine and the schools), and other sundry factors, that is.

Also, next time I hear any complaints about "helicopter parents" I am going to invite them to walk through a school choice enrollment and see how they come out looking at the other end.