They told us it was coming and even though it was chilly and rainy and in the 50s for a better part of the week I held out hope. I had faith. And yesterday the clouds passed on by and the sun came out and dried up all the rain and the itsy bitsy spider crawled up the spout again!

It was simply glorious today. A perfect day to do nothing but enjoy the outdoors and entertain my visiting parents. They never stay very long at all. (I don't think they can handle us for long periods of time!) But when they are here they do spend all their time with the kids. And I love that. So as soon as they got here the boys grabbed Popsy and Rebecca and Moo went up to her room to play. I prepared lunch in peace and quiet!

We ate lunch outdoors today. I made a lovely salad with grilled salmon and sliced new potatoes, kalamata olives, white beans, cherry tomatoes, and asparagus. We had our sun tea and lemonade that Alexander helped make. When we finished eating the kids headed in the direction of hose and kiddy pool. Fun and wet was had by all. Really, kids and water are the perfect mix for instant fun. Kinda like hot water and Swiss Miss on a cold, snowy day!

While the kids ran amok the adults sat back, relaxed and caught up on news old and new. A few hours passed and Moo and Popsy were ready for their trek back to Newport a drive just over 2 hours away. They used to stay with us in the guest bedroom. That was when we had Rebecca. When Christopher came along the noise level increased exponentially and they would stay at The Marriott a town over. And then fogheddaboutit when Alexander came along. No guest room. No Marriott no Connecticut. They say their goodbyes in a leisurely way and then you can practically hear the rubber burning as they peel out of the driveway much the way and old and terrible blind date did oh so many years ago.

I was set up on a blind date by my dear friend and room-mate Shaun. We were living in a cute apartment in a brownstone in Greenwich (Connecticut) just off of the Avenue. We were a hop, skip and a jump away from Starbucks and all the great bars and restaurants. It was a fabulous place to be young, hip, selfish and single. So anyhow I was set up to go out with this guy (I have no idea what the hell his name was or I would tell you and steer you away from him too!) We went to a restaurant called Portofino. A local watering hole really. Decent food but great drink and we always ran into people we knew... but I digress. In retrospect I should have at least had him take me to a really nice restaurant because Lord knows there are plenty to be had there!

So there I was with Whatshisname at Portofino. To tell you the truth I can not remember what he looked like either. All that I do remember was that the entire conversation was about Shaun. Shaun this Shaun that Shaun this Shaun that. Shaun Shaun Shaun Shaun Shaun Shaun. Nothing against Shaun. Love Shaun but this was getting old. And Boring. Now, Shaun was our common point, so of course she was going to come up in conversation. But what became evident to me the 332nd time he brought up her name was that he had a little "thing" for Shaun who had not a little thing for him but was madly in love with her boyfriend, a pretty cool dude in his own right. At that point I wished I could find a way out, but I was sort of stuck there. While I had toyed with that Old Bathroom Disappearing Act I just couldn't do that to someone. Our date was not terribly long though it felt so. After dinner was over there was no small talk and no dessert either, from what I recall. We hopped into his red sports car (nothing memorable) and he drove me home. I said my thank yous and bid him farewell. My hand hadn't been off the door handle for a one-hundredth of a second when he tore off like a bat outta hell! Had I known I would have worn my running shoes that night! Oh I had a bunch of doozie dates. Enough to fill the pages of a book, actually... but I wonder how the hell I managed to go from talking about a beautiful day with my family to the rediculous world of dating? Ahh... yes, my parents peeling out of our driveway!

So even though their stay was short, it was sweet and we all had fun and we happy to see them!