The Curse of Collioure

Collioure, France is one of my favorite "go to" places when we have company.  With France only about a 2 hour drive, it's kind of like going to New Hampshire or Maine for us but at the same time... it's France.  Really, can you beat that?

And so for the last 2 years (once we discovered it), it has been on the list of must see places when we have company for more than a few days.  We've taken Josh's sister and brother-in-law (http://megustatuzapatos.blogspot.com.es/2011/04/road-trip-to-collioure-france.html), our friends Kyle and Kelly (http://megustatuzapatos.blogspot.com.es/2011/05/more-visitors-kyle-and-kelly-come-to.html) and my cousin Meghan (http://megustatuzapatos.blogspot.com.es/2012/03/meghan-visits-barcelona.html) so far with plans for this year to take Michelle, Meghan (in a second attempt), my parents and my aunt and uncle - all who are planning to visit Barcelona this year.

Too bad they aren't going to get to see it... why?  Because I've decided Collioure is cursed.  This is only my second visit to Collioure in the last year and like the past trip, it was a bit of a distaster.  The good thing is both disasters were met with lots of laughs and ahhh, France kind of moments.  So thankfully they weren't as bad as they could have been.

So how is Collioure cursed?  Well, it's probably not, but given my track record at the moment, I'm not sure that I want to tempt fate.  I'm sure there are plenty of other cute seaside towns, right??

My trip with Meghan was set up for disaster from the get go.  It was POURING rain out.  Like nothing I'd seen before in Barcelona.  Torrents of rain flooding the roads.  But it was our last opportunity to go to France before she left and I wasn't going to have her come all the way here without at least getting to France too!  So off we went in our rental car and we couldn't find our way out of Barcelona.

At the time, I wasn't driving in Barcelona regularly and so had to completely rely on my GPS which never took me the same way twice.  The first attempt I felt was taking us in the completely wrong direction ... south.  So I turned around and it didn't like that.  3 1/2 nerve wracking hours later (it's normally about a 2 hr 15 min drive), we made it to Collioure.

Too bad Collioure was "closed".  Now I recognize what it means to be a tourist town.  It means that often restaurants and shops are seasonal.  However, never have I been to a tourist town where EVERYTHING shuts down for the season.  This did not appear to be just a siesta deal as you could tell many of the shops had not been open for some time.  And for lunch... well we went to the one place that was open.  A pizza shop.  So much for our fancy French lunch.

After lunch we attempted to walk around and see if anything was open... anything.  Nada, zip, zilch.  And the roads were completely flooded to the point where it was a small river coming down any streets at an incline (which many of them were).  And we were soaked to the bone.  Total time spent in Collioure, 1 hour.  Total time driving?  SEVEN HOURS.

Streets of Collioure flooded with rain

It's actually flowing down this staircase like a river

Still beautiful even in the rain

That is a sidewalk that looks like a lake...

But I thought after Meghan's visit that it was just one time of pure misfortune and had every intention to bring her back when she comes to visit this September.  Sorry Meg!! Because incident number 2 happened while Caryn and Ursula were visiting and as we all know, these things happen in threes!  And I'm trying to avoid number three!!

After driving 2 hours from Arles, France with Caryn and Ursula about 2 weeks ago, our plan was to stop in Collioure on our way home.  Given it's quaintness and charm, it was a village I really wanted them to see.  Ursula had lived in France years ago and it was an area she had never been to and this was Caryn's first trip to the area as well.  

All was well until we attempted to look for a parking space.  We pulled into a U-shaped parking lot that already looked full but was also an opportunity for us to turn around.  To our right was a tourist bus with it's hazzards blinking, located in a striped lane which is not meant for driving.  We were on the left which was the only actual driving lane and even had an arrow on it to prove that!  

So our plan was to turn left to look for additional parking.  We were about mid way down the bus when all of a sudden the bus decided he, too, was taking a left.  I was stopped now and just watched in stunned silence as the bus slowly started to crush against my car, the driver oblivious to my existence next to him.  Finally the realization of what was happening set in and I beeped my horn.  

I was afraid to get out of the car for fear of what I would face given how horrific the sound was.  However, I was "pleasantly" surprised that the damage wasn't as bad as I had feared.  It could have been much worse.  And we were safe.  But the door to my passenger side would no longer open and I wasn't sure if there was any tire damage.  

The damage to my car - it doesn't look bad but the location of the dent meant the passenger door would not open  

My car was in the lane with the arrow - the bus in the one with the diagonal stripes.  I was turning left...he decided to turn left.  Which one is wrong??

In the end, everything worked out (yet another entry with the details) but now concerned with their being a curse on my beloved Collioure.  I may send Josh on his own just to give it a "test run" before attempting to go back again!

Besos

Julie

College Reunion, Barcelona Style

About a year ago, one of my best friends from college, Ursula, and I had started talking about her doing a trip out here to visit us with her family.  The plan was for them to go to France for a week to visit her host family and then a week here. We talked about it... a lot.  We researched flights.  But it was hard to pull the trigger and figure out what made more sense - fly into Barcelona and then take a local carrier to France or vice versa?  And we had to pin down the dates.  Before you know it, it was only a few months before the planned trip and the prices had gone up significantly.  The hopes for a visit seemed to be going down the drain.

But all hope was not lost.  We started talking about perhaps instead of a 2 week trip with the entire family, what if she came out to visit 2 weeks before our original dates (while the kids were still in school thereby making childcare a bit easier) by herself for just one week instead of two?  And then we threw in, do you think our other BFF from college, Caryn, would be in as well??  Josh was going to be away most of that week so other than when my kids would be out of school it would truly be a girls week.  And to top it off, my birthday was at the end of the week, what a celebration!!

Caryn was in!  Suddenly a hope was becoming a reality!  My two best friends from college would be here for the first week of June!  We all live in different states at home so even when we are all stateside, we don't get to see each other all that much.  Josh was a little bummed because he is actually good friends with them too so he would only get about a day or two with them out of the entire week.  But I was excited to know that two of the people that I love so much were coming here to visit!!

I think we emailed more in these two months than we have in the last 2 years.  While the best of friendships stand the tests of time, it's always nice to know you can pick right up where you left off.  Life gets in the way - kids, work, life... it's not always possible to talk as often as we would like.  We talked about all the things we would do while they were here, including a quick trip to France!

Finally the day came when we had to pick up Caryn and Urs at the airport.  Liam helped me with a poster to welcome them to Barcelona and kudos to Liam for doing all that coloring!  And in the lines too!!  I was so focused on what Liam was doing that I didn't even notice Caryn and Urs til they were right in front of me.  But it was emotional and a bit surreal (are they really really here???) regardless!

Liam is ready to welcome Caryn and Urs with his poster!

From that moment on, we were at warp speed.  We got home, dropped off the bags, handed over Liam to Josh for tennis lessons and immediately hit the ground running.  Grocery shopping, a quick lunch and then up to Parc Guell - tourists abound but it is a must see and it was a gorgeous day, with spring (yes spring, not summer!) finally arriving with them.  It was nice for Josh to have some time catching up with our friends since the next day we were leaving him and the kids and heading up to Provence, France.

Aidan was determined to drink from this fountain... the mom in me shivers in disgust (though I'm sure it was fine)

For the boy who didn't want to go, he seems pretty happy here

Seriously goofy

MUST.CLIMB.EVERYTHING

EVERYTHING

Did I mention must climb EVERYTHING?

Caryn, Urs, me, Aidan and Liam

In the 4 hour drive on Sunday up to Arles, France, there was never a moment of silence in the car (except for Caryn, who like Josh, can sleep anywhere ;)).  Living in different states (and now countries), having families and careers, we just don't get this kind of time together and we seized every single moment.  I don't think during the entire week that there was a lull in the conversation - we had so much to catch up on... years worth of stuff!  But like I said before, it felt like we just picked up where we left off which was such a good feeling.

Arles, France was beautiful as was our hotel where I had been to before with Michelle.  It's such a pretty little town to explore with it's own Roman arena and amphitheater.  Unfortunately, in France, many restaurants are closed on Sundays (while everything is closed in BCN, for the most part restaurants are always open) and we were hard pressed to find dinner and ended up in a slightly touristy place, but the wine was flowing as was the conversation and so the meal was secondary to the rest.

Roman colosseum in Arles, France

I love the doors and windows in this town

Beautiful pedestrian street

View from by the church on top of the hill

Cool dial that actually showed what we were viewing in front of us and how far away it was

That is actually the sun in the lamp - just managed to get the shot at just the right moment

Eglise St. Trophime

Van Gogh gardens

Our hotel

With only one night in Arles, we got up the next morning and just enjoyed a relaxing few hours chatting before heading out to Collioure, a beautiful French village about 20 minutes from the Spanish border.  This is one of my favorite places to go.  It's a seaside town with picturesque views of the Mediterranean, a windmill, a castle and great little French restaurants.  Unfortunately I will never be able to go back there as I've decided it's cursed.  Yes, watch for the blog entry on the Curse of Collioure, it's coming soon.  After an "adventurous" day in Collioure, we headed back to Barcelona, albeit a little worse for the wear but still all smiles.

One of my favorite views in Collioure

Part of the "curse of Collioure"

Another favorite view, these colorful sailboats always in the harbor

The week was already off to a great start and we just kept going.  There is no rest for the weary.  There wasn't a single night where we were in bed before 1AM and with Josh away, I was up at 6:15 with the kids Tuesday - Friday and then again at 7 the morning Caryn and Urs had to leave.  It was a rapid fire pace and yet, I wasn't exhausted by it until after they left (when Josh, the kids and I actually took a family nap we were all so tired!).  We just all ran on adrenaline and the excitement of getting to spend this amazing quality time with each other that we hadn't had in YEARS.  I do wish we'd had a day or two that we could have just chilled and done nothing but then we wouldn't have gotten to see all the sights and why fly all this way if we aren't going to see the sights of Barcelona?

So we set Tuesday and Thursday aside for "in town" touristy stuff and Wednesday we headed down to Sitges for a little fun in the sun (and the bikini Challenge) to go along with our touring around town.  We did so much walking that I actually felt no guilt (for the first time in a long time) about not making it to the gym.  I think Caryn said we walked over 75,000 steps in the course of just a few days (according to her Nike fuelband).  We hit all the big sites on our BCN days - La Pedrera, walking along Passeig de Gracia and Las Ramblas, Placa Catalunya, Casa Batllo, walking along Barceloneta to Villa Olimpica and then back thru Ciutadella Park, thru the Arc de Triumpf and back home.  And then a tour thru the Raval, Gothic and El Born along with a trip up to Montjuic (thanks to my friends Eddy and Ricardo for taking on that part while I waited for my next babysitter to relieve me and thanks for some of the pictures for this entry!).  We finished with a tour of Sagrada Familia (which is also Liam's new favorite topic as he just started to learn about Antoni Gaudi at school).

Dinner at La Muscleria - yummy mussels and great company, a perfect combination!

Julie, Caryn and Ursula in the Gothic area

And in the Raval

Ricardo, Caryn and Urs on Montjuic

Urs at the Cathedral and the group of us at a great organic restaurant in the Raval

Caryn and Ursula on Montjuic

Eddy, Caryn and Urs on Montjuic

Besties :)

Speaking of my friends, I'm so glad that Caryn and Urs got to meet some of mine here.  I've met such lovely people here that I wanted to share them with some of my oldest friends.  Eddy and Ricardo met up with us a few times for dinner and tourism (and they are the best tour guides!).  And then on Friday, my birthday, we had a big bbq and send off for Caryn and Urs so they got to meet a bunch of people at once.  Always social, I had no worries about them fitting in with the "new" crowd.

Friday night was a late night (3AM) but it was a perfect end to a perfect week.  Josh manned the bbq and we had meats, veggies and desserts galore.  It was a feast fit for royalty!  And it meant so much to me to have my friends with me on that big day.  But sadly it also meant our vacation was coming to an end.  Saturday morning I saw them off to the airport with big hugs and promises to see them when we are home in August.

You'll have to wait for my birthday blog entry for the rest of my birthday pictures

I feel like friendships have been renewed and revitalized.  We've caught up but could still use another week (or two) to truly feel caught up in each others' lives.  I feel so fortunate that they were not only able to work out logistically a way to get here, leaving their families behind, but that they wanted to come visit and found a way to do it.  We've had so few visitors in the last 3 1/2 years and each one who  comes, I hope you know how much it means to us to have you here.

Last but certainly not least, Aidan and Liam bonded with my friends.  Now with Liam, this is no major surprise, but for Aidan to put himself out to others so quickly is not normal.  And I think it speaks worlds of the women I have chosen for my closest friends.  They have only met the boys a handful of times in the last few years and so the boys really had no recollection of them beyond a day here or there.  And for them to be giving kisses and hugs at the end of the trip and telling them how much they would be missed, well, that's a big deal to me.

And so it was with tears in my eyes that I had to say hasta luego to Caryn and Urs when they headed out last Saturday (yes, I know I'm a bit late with this entry).  But I'm so thankful for their visit which not only rekindled our friendships, but rekindled my energy here and that was much needed.  Thank you both for being such a huge part of my life and for coming out to see us!!

Besos,
Julie

The (Slow) Return of the Running "Machine"

I wrote an entry a few weeks ago about the breakdown of a running machine and the (unintentionally) self inflicted injuries I've caused myself from running.  After a year of on and off pain, I've set off to try and fix this problem.  But it means navigating the medical system here for the most part in Spanish.  Most likely all my readers have "enjoyed" navigating the medical system in their home countries and see how frustrating it can be ... now try to do it in a language other than your own.

Yes, I know I just wrote an entry on the easiness of using the system here.  And it is actually quite easy.  But once you have the appointment the challenge is then being able to communicate your problem and understand the questions being asked to you in another language.  In the last few weeks I've had to do that for my orthopedist appointment, the emergency room for Liam, the eye doctor for Liam, the emergency room for Aidan, the eye doctor for Aidan and finally, for myself at my bone scan appointment.  

And so far in those past few weeks I've done pretty well with communicating in Spanish.  Only problem is that it's hard to make follow up questions when you don't speak the language fluently.  But I feel like progress is being made and so for now, I'll take that. 

But back to trying to fix the running machine... I had an appointment a few weeks ago with an orthopedist.  A doctor that I was told spoke English, but in fact, did not.  I told him what was wrong with me and how it happened.  He spent less than 30 seconds examining my leg and then said I had tibial periostitis (shin splints).  He ordered a gamagrafia and therapy.  I had no idea what a gamagrafia was and when I google translated it, I still didn't know.  So then I had to google the translation - turns out it was for a bone scan.

I scheduled the appointment for the bone scan which to be honest, seemed a bit extreme since we didn't even do a standard x-ray and now you are going to expose me to radiation equivalent to about 60 x-rays.  But hey, I'm not a doctor and the medical system as I've noted, is different here.  So I'm going with the flow.  My appointment was scheduled 2 weeks ago for 8:45AM to do the bone scan.   

I live less than 2 miles from Quiron Hospital which is where my scan was scheduled - one of only 3 places that has the appropriate equipment in this city.  I left my house at 8 for an 8:45 appt just in case. Good thing I did.  Because Travessera de Dalt and Vallcarca were like Rte 1 at Christmas.  I normally wouldn't mention a parking garage but I'm pretty sure this one went down at least 10 stories like a spiral staircase - no end in sight til you got to the bottom.  I will admit to slight panic of being so far underground.  I went into the hospital and asked where my appt was.  I knew he said bottom of the stairs and to the left but when I got to the bottom I saw the X-ray dept straight ahead, not to the left.  But to be seen I had to pick not just a number but the right department - like going to the DMV and picking licenses, registration, etc.  I took a guess. Turns out that my appointment actually was to the left... Oops!  So slightly late now which totally stresses me, I made my way down to where I had to be. I'm stressed enough already AND I need to do everything in Spanish.  Why can't life just be easy for a moment?  Because stuff like this is tough enough to navigate in your own language.  I checked in and got myself situated in the waiting area. Thankfully there were only 2 other people here.  A friend had once told me that you bring people with you to the doctor - no one should be alone... And yet here I am sitting by myself.  Meanwhile, these other people at least have their significant others with them. 

After 30 mins my name was finally called. The tech asked me a question and I had no idea what he was asking.  The fear set in.  I have no idea what I'm doing.  Thankfully a doctor who spoke English came in and explained.  The tech wanted to know if it was my first time with this type of X-ray.  He then explained the process.  They were going to inject the radioactive dye, take an X-ray, wait two hours and then do the scan again.  I must say, the tech did the injection perfectly - absolutely no pain.  I don't think I've ever had a needle in my arm without at least a pin prick.  And yet I could feel my heart racing while on the table waiting for the giant X-ray machine to take an X-ray of my legs.  The tech had asked if I had a belt on which I didn't.  But he forgot to ask if I had anything in my pockets and part way thru I began think I might have change in my pocket (and yup I did). Hoping that doesn't mess anything up!!!!   

The scan was pretty easy with the only challenge being my ability to lay still.  But I managed.  As soon as the scan was done, I took the change out of my pocket, again hoping this didn't mess anything up.  They told me to come back in 2 hours so I headed up to the cafeteria for a croissant and orange juice.  I basically just hung out for 2 hours reading and playing Candy Crush (I cannot stop playing this stupid game!).  It was kind of nice having no pressure to be anywhere or to be getting anything done - too bad I had to spend that free time hanging out at the hospital.

Anyways, I headed back to the waiting room and 2 hours turned out to be 3 but finally it was my turn.  They did the scan again and said my results would be ready to pick up in the morning.  Damn that's fast!  I had been told it takes up to 10 days to get them.  So I rushed home to call the insurance company to set up an appointment for as soon as possible with an orthopedist to review the results.  Since my appointment was on Thursday and my results ready on Friday, the earliest they could do was Tuesday (Monday was a holiday).  The doctor my friends had recommended had nothing available til June and I wasn't willing to wait that long so I took a chance that the doctor would speak English.

I picked up my results with no problem.  On Tuesday morning I decided that in an attempt to prep myself for the doctor saying I couldn't run ever again, I rode my bike to my appointment.  It actually felt good to ride it to get from point A to point B and not just to work out - the ride itself was a workout anyways and it got me to my destination.  Why I didn't start doing this sooner is beyond me.

Sorry, I digress.  I went in and the orthopedists are on the 1st floor.  But when I checked in, the guy told me to go straight ahead and to the right.  It all said traumatology and ophthalmology.   I was like, hmmm, I think he misread where my appointment was.  So I went upstairs anyways.  The woman at reception told me, no I need to go downstairs and I was pretty sure she said ophthalmology.  I started to panic thinking that they set me up with the wrong type of appointment but it turns out this guy is traumatology.  Ok, whew!!!

And bonus, he spoke English.  And it kind of threw me off a bit to be able to explain everything in English.  We didn't talk long but he looked at my x-ray and said that I definitely had tibial periostitis but that if I'm not having any pain right now, I can start to run.  SLOWLY.  And short distances.  And slowly work my way back up.  He told me that if I don't listen to him that I'm at risk for a stress fracture and that, I can do without.  The pain that I've had off and on over the last year felt like a stress fracture and if that pain wasn't a fracture then I don't know want to know what is!  I need to do warm ups before I run - something I'm not used to doing as my run usually is my warm up.  And for the time being I can only run inside as it's less pressure on my leg than running on the hard pavement.

My face just totally lit up.  I could't stop smiling.  He was telling me I could run.  I don't think I realized how much I missed my ability to run until that moment when I thought he might tell me I could never do it again.  But to be told that yes, you can do it, but take it slow... I can manage that.  But it's been a challenge.  I'm competitive, even with myself.  So to take a step back bothers me from a mental standpoint, not a physical one.  The idea of running at a 10'30" pace instead of a 9' or 9'30" pace bothers me.  I know I need to do it, but I'm having trouble with my ego on that one.  To the point where I haven't uploaded any of my runs since I started back again last week.  Stupid I know.  But it bothers me to know I'm not running at my best or trying to beat my best.

However, I know it needs to be slow progress if I'm ever going to be able to run consistently again.  And so I've slowed my pace down and my distance.  I started off last week running at 10'30" and only ran a mile.  The next day I added 2 minutes to my run.  Then I rested for 3 days with no running.  This week I've run every day at least 10-15 minutes.  I'm slowly, slowly increasing my speed.  This morning I ran for 20 minutes and ran at about 10'7" per mile.  It's a start.  I'll get there and I know I will.  Progress is still progress and I'm just happy to be back on track again.

I go back to the doctor in mid June for a check up.  He's hoping I won't need physical therapy (I'm hoping the same) so I plan to do my best to be "good" so I can show him a print out of what I've done in the 3 weeks since our first appointment - that I'm slowly increasing both time and speed.  That I'm doing a warm up before my runs and making sure I stretch after (that part I was actually doing before).  But with any hope and perhaps a bit of luck, I'll be back to my "normal" self within a month or two.  Here's hoping!

Besos,
Julie

Aidan's 9th Birthday Party

My darling Aidan is truly my twin.  He's a creature of habit and doesn't like to try new things.  I'm getting better about it but he is still young and will eventually find his way.  So it didn't surprise me when I asked him about what he wanted to do for his birthday party this year... the same thing he did last year.  A scooter party in a nearby park.

This worked for me because it's easy to organize and incredibly inexpensive, especially compared to some of the party places that some of these kids hold their parties.  There are some things that are the same no matter what country you live in - party places for birthdays are one of them.

So anyways, we attempted to plan his party for the day after his birthday on a Saturday afternoon.  Now, I may have made a faux pax by sending the invite within the hour after another party that was scheduled for Sunday.  But in my defense, the party is a different day and time AND her invitation just reminded me that I needed to send it.  But I probably should have spaced it out after she sent hers.  Anyways, no big deal because ONLY TWO KIDS COULD COME.  Yes, only 2.  Turns out that it was also communion weekend.  Who knew?  Not me.

In the end, I talked it over with Josh and Aidan and we decided to bump his party out a few weeks in order to allow for more kids to be able to come.  He was only inviting about 10 kids anyways, so when a few can't make it, it makes a big difference compared to parties of 40 or more kids (which many parents do - they do group parties and invite both classes for that grade).  This worked out better for Aidan, his guests and for me who didn't have to deal with 2 consecutive weeks of parties, therefore enabling me to focus a little more on his party rather than being just too wiped to deal.

The only problem with having a party in the park is that there are only so many picnic tables to go around.  With 5 tables and tis the season for fiestas, I was a little worried about staking my claim in time for the party.  The kids had tennis in the morning and then Josh was going to pick up 2 of Aidan's friends for the party.  So they weren't going to be there til around 1:15.  Would that be enough time to get a table for a 2 o'clock party?  I wasn't so sure.  The alternative - have Josh drop me and all the stuff off on his way to tennis at 10:30AM.  Yes, 3 1/2 hours before the party.

Now, some may be thinking that this was unfair to others that might have used that table during those 3 1/2 hours.  But I know many moms out there would have done the same thing for their kids if not more.  However, you will all be happy to know that while all the tables did fill up with people, some of which were parties, there was never a time when anyone entered the picnic area only to find no tables available.

The weather was supposed to be early 70s and sunny.  Once again, the weatherman was wrong and I was totally inappropriately dressed in capris and flip flops to sit freezing in the shade.  Ah well.  At one point while I was waiting a creepy guy came over and asked what I was doing and why I was there.  I kept trying to ignore him but he kept standing there and staring.  It was a bit unnerving.  Eventually after about 15 mins he moved on.  But it made me a bit weary about the kids running around the park unsupervised.  And when they got there I gave them a lecture about stranger danger.

However, that may have been unnecessary (not that they don't need to know about strangers) because no joke, by 1:30 we were the ONLY people in the park with the exception of a family sitting at the table next to us.  The playground and entire park was empty.  I didn't think about the fact that I scheduled the party for siesta.  I've learned my lesson there!

The party started off a little rocky in my mind.  Thankfully it was only in my mind and not Aidan's.  With only 10 kids invited and one unable to come right off the bat, we were down to 9 kids.  Not bad actually, a good group - not too big, not too small.  Of course, only 2 of them were there during the first hour which had me panicked.  A few cancelled, two were late (one I knew about but forgot).  And one met up with us later on.  But during that first hour I was in total panic thinking we were only going to have 2 kids after all that.

But it was perfect.  They scootered thru the park, ate pizza and cupcakes.  They had sword fights with sticks, climbed trees, played soccer and enjoyed what little bit of nature the city life has to offer.  They laughed and smiled and it warmed my heart to see how happy Aidan was with all his friends.

Aidan and his best friend

Liam is excited for the party

Having pizza

Grabbing their scooters

Liam had a playdate during the party too!

Love this picture!

Aidan's favorite tree in Barcelona

Seriously the playground was completely empty except for these kids - how awesome is that?

Enjoying the playground

Opening presents

Cool legos!

Playing soccer!

In the end, it all worked out beautifully.  Aidan and his friends had the park to themselves.  It was a small, intimate group.  And we all came back to our house for an extended playdate that lasted til 7 and included a sleepover with one of his friends.  When the kids came back to the house everything just felt in sync.  They played fantastic - just a great group of kids.

Not only that but one of Aidan's friends that couldn't come to the party stopped by on Sunday to take him out for an impromptu playdate and some ice cream to make up for not being able to come on Saturday.  It was so incredibly kind of the parents to go out of their way to make him feel special, and he did.  I think overall, it was a great 9th birthday for Aidan :)  Happy birthday!!!

Besos,
Julie