Summer Block Party

Today was our annual summer block party.  Though it called for rain all afternoon,

the sky cleared up, we had a perfect day, and a great turn out.

Ryan was in Louisville for the weekend at Mike Holba's bachelor party, which left Owen and I

to brave the block party on our own.  Let me start by saying that it is no secret that Owen is

full of energy and prefers running to walking 99% of the time.  Add an extra large bounce house,

tons of other kids and toys, and an entire street to explore and it leads to an exhausting day

for both of us.  He took two extra long naps in between his block party appearances, and

still crashed without making a peep tonight.  People have joked that it would be funny to

put a pedometer on Owen to see how far he runs in a day, and today of all days would 

have been a great day to do it.  We're talking miles, I'm sure!

 Between his many trips up and down the block, Owen managed to do some driving,

a little relaxing (notice he wasn't sitting long enough for me to even snap a picture),

And LOTS of bouncing.

 It didn't bother him one bit that there were other big kids in the bounce house.  In fact, I think he had more fun when they were in there bouncing right along with him.  He watched them and smiled and tried to bounce along, which meant running as far as he could in between their

bounces before he lost his balance and fell over.

These block parties always amaze me, and today was no exception.  It started around 9:00 AM and has been going strong all day, even up until I am writing this at 8:00 PM.  The food spread 

in itself is impressive.  Everyone brought stuff to share for breakfast, then for lunch there was

pizza for someone's birthday, two huge trays of sushi donated by our neighbors who own

Sen Sushi, a large pan of Pad Thai from those same neighbor's parents who own Mama Thai,

and 100 pieces of fried chicken and some potato salad donated by Chicago's Chicken

and Waffles located at the end of our block.  They also sponsored the bounce house, 

which is an awesome gesture.  Then for dinner....taco truck!

Between all of the eating, the kids had plenty to do to keep them busy.  Aside from the constant

entertainment the bounce house provided, there was a face painting station and a fingernail

painting station.  Plus there were two kids on the block with birthdays, so there were two

separate birthday celebrations, which meant two rounds of cupcakes and an endless supply of 

noise makers which I am still being serenaded with as I sit here.  

I speak for Owen and I (and most likely every other person on this block) when I 

say that we are going to get a good night's sleep tonight.  He spent his day exploring all the 500

block of Scoville had to offer, and I spent my day following his every move.  He's gotten so stinkin quick on his feet that if I turn my head for even a few seconds to talk to someone, he's

halfway down the block.  Needless to say, I was quite happy to come home tonight and have

him snuggle up next to me and watch a movie.  A nice relaxing end to a fun, but tiring day.