The kids and I went to the park yesterday, though LD slept through the 1 1/2 hour long visit. It has been a long time since we've been to the park, and I think Avadore really enjoyed it. I don't mind the 50+ degree weather.

We went again today, though this time Rice came, too. I can't tell you the last time we all went to the park together -- probably this summer, before Rice relocated back up north. Because of my back I can only get so physical with the kids anymore (and I'm working on this), and he could really play with them in ways I can't. I think everyone had a good time.

Avadore told Rice that he likes him, and that Rice is his best friend. Avadore has a lot of best friends, but it's nice now that one of them is his father.

We stopped by the state natural history museum before going home. I used to work there with this lovely lady, who also turned out to be Winter's mom. She's a neat person, and since she's the education manager for the museum, she's good with kids and has a great deal of experience with the different schools in a wide geographic area.

Rice took the kids to the car and she and I ended up having quite a long discussion about Avadore and schools. She told me pretty much everything I already knew -- Avadore is a child of a different sensibility, and she would not send him to the public schools, especially the one where he is slated to go in the fall. If we were to stay here, she would send him to one of the charter schools I've been looking at. If we end up up north she would send him to the Montessori school there, the very school that, at this point, is #1 on my list. After that she would send him to the charter school which was #2 on my list.

There's a lot to be said for mother's intuition, I suppose. But also a lot to be said for wise, experienced people who can see things in one's children and can tell you. Also, there's something to be said for fine friends. And for actual intelligent conversation where one party isn't worried that the other party will pass a moral judgement based on the books they read, movies they watch, or soda they drink.

This is the same woman who told me to call a friend/neighbor of mine several months ago just after Avadore's parent-teacher conference that left me so concerned.

(Speaking of which, his teachers are no longer concerned about the things they were at this meeting. Avadore has made a great deal of progress this year.)

After our visit, we came home and put the kids down for a nap. Rice and I ate that meal, either called linner or dunch together. And, oh, it was fine. There was cheese, and a whole grain mini baguette, rice crackers, and sugar snap peas, and these fabulous gluten-free lemon shortbread cookies Rice acquired in Salt Lake, which he was kind enough to share with me.

These are the best days.

I feel good, I feel calm, I feel content, and happy.

This weekend was lovely, so nice, and a lot of fun. And it was just nice to be with Rice. (He figures we saw each other a total of four days during January.) But it was nice to come home, too. I come from a middle-class family. My parents were educators, and even when their ancestors had a great deal of money for the area and the time, they never lived like it. So when a Jaguar or a Corvette pulls up next to my husband's 1997 Jetta with all the wear and tear that accompanies this year of Jetta (these Jettas can't keep their trim worth anything, for example, and oh jeez, it needs a good cleaning, etc.) because we're all staying at the same hotel, and the woman who gets out of said hawt car is wearing shoes from a store I'll probably never set foot inside, yet know how to locate in the first place, and while we're at it can we discuss her cream cashmier coat?, well... it's cool and enjoyable and all, but I'm happy living the life I have.

I will probably never be able to overcome the desire to help the bellman with my bags, and you know, they really don't appreciate that kind of thing.

I will tell you, however, the laughs Rice and I had about our car in comparison with the hawt cars were fabulous. Oh, we laughed so insanely hard about our little car when compared to the shiny just-out-of-a-magazine gorgeous cars.
We about died. In a close second, in terms of laughs of the weekend, Rice's impersonation of Jarvis Cocker was priceless. (His "So it started ... There" was right on.) These may be the two funniest bits of the year, but we'll have to see. The kids do say incredibly funny things at times, as does Rice. I may have to keep a list.

You had to be there for both events, I'm afraid. Trust me, they were fabulously funny. But we are, after all, incredibly funny people, in real life. Especially Rice.

For this evening there is house cleaning slated. Maybe more reading. Maybe writing. Definitely more fun.