There Were Ponies.

Indeed, there were: one named Splash, and one named Skye. This past Saturday, June 7, was Caitlin's, Isabel's, and Aidan's annual birthday blowout. They did party as if it were their (actual) birthday; however, they did not sip Bacardi for the aforementioned reasons. At least not to my knowledge.

Karen and I are the stereotypical suburban over-the-top parent party-throwers, but this observation and title must come with a disclaimer, one that Karen and I, both highly sensitive to the acknowledgment that we are those kinds of parents, have painstakingly fashioned in our own defense. Here's how it goes: This is the only party we host during the year. We invite family from both the Ephraim and Ridges side as well as friends and whomever else we can think that might enjoy seeing the kids. We want everyone invited to come because this is sometimes the only time we get to see some of the family members during the year, so we offer some fabulous swag for those who attend.

This year we had ponies and a bounce house, two children's party events that one might not think would have much of an impact on each other; however, it turns out that Splash, the small pony, is not fond of bounce houses, and we were told by the handler that we needed to deflate the apparatus or strange violent and terrible things could happen. My brother, David, surmised that both ponies would just want to go in the bounce house, and we'd never get them to give the children rides.

The weather did hold up, right until the girls began their ride, then the clouds burst into a torrential downpour. Splash, we found out, is also not a fan of rain, so he bucked a bit, and Karen had to get Isabel off pretty quickly. Isabel was not fazed in the least, and as soon as the rain stopped, she was right back on. The pony Caity was riding, Skye, was described by the handler as "bomb-proof", and didn't bat a single of his pretty pony eyelashes. Caity was not affected by the rain at all. She just wanted to finish her ride.

When the rain subsided, the rest of the children were able to get their pony rides. The adults stayed in the house, mostly, but we thought it was nice and cozy, and Karen and I got to visit with family while the kids finished their pony rides or slipped around in the wet bounce house.

Once the guests left, we cleaned what we could and headed off to bed. Karen's sister Donna was in from Maryland, and on Sunday morning the two of them met up with their brothers, Greg and Kyle, for a 5K run in Glenview to support a hospice-type care facility. Every year, they try to get together and run a race in memory of Gerry.

The party was a success. Dan had three crabby kids on Sunday (Jacob did remarkable well, despite having a sleep over with his friend Marcus the night before and an intense soccer game on Sunday morning [Chicago Fire Jrs won 5-3, which is a HUGE deal this spring season.] but had a chilled out day watching the rain from the family room with the girls and Aidan.

Thank you everyone who came to the party and made it a special day for us and our children. Your gifts were very generous and will bring the kids hours, nay, months of good times.

Our camera crapped out on us during the party, so we got very Ridges-centric pictures for fear of total demise. If anyone has pictures of the guests of the party, please email them to me. I will put them up.