The party party

I've finally recovered enough from the birthday party (the big one) to write a quick entry. The party was on Saturday, but the weather really kept us on our toes. Early in the week the weather report had a 90% chance of rain; a bit later in the week it dropped to 70%. Walt and I decided that we should just assume that we'd be inside -- basically we'd have to do the smoking outside and then everyone would eat inside.

By about noon, though, it started to clear up and we made a snap decision to rent tables and chairs for the patio (that was the original plan but because of the rain we ditched the idea). Walt and my dad had to speed down to S. San Francisco to the rental place (arriving about 15 minutes after it closed) to pick up three 60" round tables and chairs. That decision threw everything off, since then we had to get tablecloths, set up the tables, blah blah. So by the time people started arriving, we weren't nearly as set up as we thought we'd be.

However, it turned out to be a great thing that we got the tables -- I think we had in the neighborhood of 40 to 50 people show up (including kids), which we'd never have been able to fit at all comfortably into our apartment. The downside was that it got quite windy in the afternoon, so it was pretty cold by the time we ate (so cold that we decided to go inside for the cake).

Speaking of the cake, we ordered a HUGE cake from the bakery down the street. I didn't realize how big it was -- we really ordered by the "feeds 35-50" description, not the dimensions -- and we sent my dad down to pick up tablecloths for the tables and the cake. Apparently the cake was so big that he was literally staggering down the street and happened to see our friends Valerie and Jason (who were trying to find the apartment). He yelled for Jason, who finally heard him and ran down the street and ended up carrying the cake in. The cake was a huge hit with the kids, though, both because it was literally supersized and because it was decorated with loads of chocolate flowers and filigree. I think my mom got a couple of photos of the cake, so I'll post what I can find. Walt did do a great time lapse movie of the crowds on the patio, so I'll post it as soon as he gets it on You Tube.

The whole thing turned out to be great fun. My friend Sami mentioned that there were people from every aspect of my life -- pre-college, college, work, etc. -- including folks like Bruce and his family (my boss from years ago), Valerie and Jason (Val is my mom's high school friend and Jason is her son) and current friends. I really enjoyed myself, and I was excited that we had such a great turnout.

Devon had a wonderful time too. Initially she was a bit freaked out by the crowds; there were really a lot of people wandering around inside and out. But then she warmed up to it and started to enjoy herself. There were also loads and loads of kids who were literally creating mayhem, so it was like being in a huge daycare (but without any discipline). Devon's room looked like a bomb had gone off in it. There were packs of kids running up and down the hall squealing at the top of their voices. I'm sure the Galanters loved it all. Devon was very sorry when everyone left, especially since by that time she had a total sugar high from the cake and was all keyed up from the excitement.

Speaking of parties, today when I picked Devon up from Elaine's, all of the kids had had cupcakes for Liam's birthday. She was totally wired and sugared up; the whole night she was running around the apartment like a maniac. It made putting her down for sleep quite hideous, of course, since she didn't want to take a bath, didn't want to put on her jammies, etc. Ugh. It's a good thing birthdays only come once a year.