This Friday, we rendezvoused with [Dad McMains->], [Lana->], and [Meara->] to celebrate Meara’s 17th birthday. On the way down, Liam decided to celebrate the occassion in his own inimitable fashion: he stuck a blow-pop in his hair. By the time he got around to alerting us, it was pretty inextricably entwined, and Kathy had to resort to milk and saliva to free it from his head.

Emily: Laughs uproariously
Kathy: “Em, please don’t laugh. It’s not funny!”
Sean: Laughs quietly
Emily: “Daddy, do you think it’s funny?”
Sean: “Yes, but only when your mom’s not listening.”

Needless to say, Liam was sporting an impressive Kramer-esque do for the rest of the evening.

We arrived at the theater 5 minutes before the start of The Emporer’s New Groove. The kids enjoyed it thoroughly. The adults had a good time for the most part as well. David Spade was very well-cast as the egocentric emporer who gets turned into a Llama. (I was speculating that if the same happened to our boy, we’d have to start calling him “Lliam.”) We then retired to The Alamo Cafe, home of the best tortillas in the free world. When the wait staff was alerted to Meara’s birthday, they sang to her while forcing her to stand on her chair and perform the haunting and beautiful Danza de la sal y la pimienta. Finally with tired kids and tireder parents, we returned home, again reminded how nice it is to be closer to family here so that we can be a part of these special times.