peaceful house

...
It's almost 9PM and totally quiet. I like it. DH is still out at the DBacks came, probably won't be home for another hour, at least. There is nothing I have to do. That's cool.

After picking up DS1 from school, I barely supervised him doing his math homework -- they're doing fractions, which he just "gets" -- and then they all went back to watching Spy Kids 3D, the actual 3-D version which gives me a headache. The movie got totally panned but I honestly didn't think it was that bad. I think most reviewers fell asleep before realizing that the revenge plot was not going to play out the way they expected it to. Yes, it was stupid. But fun for the kids, and once again nicely emphasizing how important family is. I like that.

We went for an early dinner at Chili's which was actually really nice for a change. We were all in the bathroom for a "last call" before going over to DD's cheer practice when one of the other cheer moms called me to say that there was a problem, there was some event going on in the gym. We were only about 5 minutes away so I told her we would be right there. When we got there, she was there with her daughter, and one other mom & girl from my squad, plus one of the coaches -- no sign of anyone else. We decided to bail. It was too hot to do it outside, and they were only going to review this evening, anyway. It was the last practice! Harumph. I was ticked. This has been too disorganized by far, but still, DD enjoyed herself quite a bit when she decided to make the effort.

So, it was about 6:10 and I had a bit of wanderlust, and decided to take the kids for dessert. We went to AJ's, which is this really swank grocery store that has an incredible bakery: all these gorgeous things, very pricey of course. But they do have luscious and quite reasonable chocolate croissants. The kids were freaking out over all the really expensive pastries. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to buy them $5 napoleans which I know they will not eat. I bought 2 chocolate croissants ($1.39 each)and 1 huge butterfly-shaped, beautifully frosted sugar cookie ($2.50!). We ate at the tables they have outside by their fountains. It was quite pleasant, but seriously, $2.50 for one cookie? Please. However, I have to say it was the best-tasting really expensive cookie I have ever had. Usually when they look that good they taste nasty, because they are just made for show. The chocolate croissant? mmmmmm I can't have them without thinking of my high school trip to Monaco, when I practically lived on pain au chocolat and orangina, because both were tasty, cheap, and widely available. Monaco was incredibly expensive, at least to me back then, and I could really only afford to eat one good meal a day. Plus, of course, infinite amounts of cafe-au-lait, with tons of sugar, which was life-sustaining. And amaretto. Or Grand Marnier. Never mind...

It's odd. That was a high school trip and we did things with our teacher and whoever the other chaperone was (I can't even remember!), but nearly all of my memories are of me and my girl friends hanging out with no adult supervision. How is that possible? Miss K trusted us, I suppose. Well, we all came back alive and disease-free, so no harm done. In this day and age? No way would 4 teen-age girls be allowed to roam around Monaco at all hours without a grown-up along! Course it was nearly 25 years ago that I went.

Enough nostalgia... had dessert, came home, got the kids in the bath and to bed. I was going to skip the baths but DS1 had field day today and he was all sweaty and dusty, definitely in need of a good scrub. Amazingly, they were all tucked in by 8:15. Days like today make me sure I'll be able to manage them when we are in MA for all those weeks without DH!

I was thinking, I have to ask my bro & SIL if there are any feasts in the North End while we are there... I would love to take my kids to one, it would really be fun, and there apartment is right there so we could go there and escape the craziness if it got to be too much. Now I am really starting to look forward to the trip. Only 3 more weeks of school for DS1!