This past weekend, the Ryans were double booked. We had my ten year high school reunion in Montgomery on Saturday and our nephew's baptism in Muscle Shoals on Sunday. We wanted to be at both, so we decided we could make it happen...with very little sleep and an extremely flexible little one.
We drove to Montgomery Friday night (after Husband flew back from his business trip in Tampa), leaving after C's bath so she would sleep in the car. We seamlessly transitioned her from the carseat to the pack-and-play at my parents' house. She woke up at 6:30 as usual and we played until the reunion picnic at the elementary school.
We played so hard that she fell asleep on the way there and spent the first 30 minutes of the picnic asleep on my shoulder (which she never does). It was nice to see everyone and their babies at the picnic. It's hard to believe that ten years have passed and even harder to believe that so many of us are parents.
Once C woke up, she was ready to run and we'd been promising a trip to the playground, so we headed that way with Melissa and her son, Hansen. Well, we got there and it was locked! Two little people pressed their faces up against the chain link fence, looking longingly at the slides. We tried to walk to the other playground, but that was too hard to explain to a one year old and C melted to the ground in tears.
Daddy to the rescue! He lifted both kids over the fence, climbed over, and played while the mommies watched. It's amazing the simple happiness that can result from a playground.
That night, CiCi and Poppa got some much needed time with C while Husband and I went to our reunion. Reunions are funny. Although I did enjoy chatting with some of my former classmates, I spent the majority of the night hanging out with my friends - the ones I get to see all the time anyway. And, to be honest, Facebook has removed the mystery from everyone's lives. Instead of looking forward to the reunion to hear about jobs and spouses and children, we just talked about the cute photos everyone had posted. But, it was still fun and I was able to spend some quality adult time with my friends that I don't see nearly enough.
Melissa was my very first friends at St. James. I was the new girl in seventh grade, painfully shy, and she was nice enough to ask me to sit with her and her friends at lunch. Elizabeth and I became close the next year and really sealed the deal on our friendship when we dressed up as The Spice Girls for a lip sync contest. It's hard to believe it's been ten years since we graduated, but even harder to believe we've been friends for over fifteen years. These are girls with whom I've made hundreds of memories and women with whom I will be friends for the rest of my life.
Husband and I left the reunion, packed our bags and our sleeping child into the car and drove back home that night. Once again, C transitioned from pack-and-play to carseat and carseat to crib. We had to be in Muscle Shoals by 9:15 the next morning, so we were up by 6:00 getting ready. I took a sleeping C and put her back in the car in her pjs.
Fast food hashbrowns and way too many Elmo dvds later, we were at the church parking lot where we quickly dressed her and made it in the church on time! It was pretty impressive. We were able to celebrate baby Major Andrew's baptism and spend the afternoon with family we don't see nearly enough. It was well worth our crazy weekend of driving.
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