Woah!

I can't even think of another title for this post. I'm just plain overwhelmed. We were invited to a birthday party at MacDonald's today, and I've never seen anything like it. Not that the party thrown by Mickie D's was anything spectacular - Ronald didn't even show up to say hi. It was the fact that it was a boy's party. Lambchop #1 was one of only two girls invited. All of the other 12 or more kids were boys. And, let me just say that if you've never seen that many 4-year-old boys get together, you're really missing out on quite a show. It was absolute mayhem.

The moment the birthday boy started to open gifts, it became a free-for-all. You'd think we'd thrown him and his gifts to the lions. Claws came out and moments later packaging lay in a shredded heap on the floor. I think he only opened maybe 3 and 1/2 of his own gifts. A real sight to see. My daughter was in shock, I think. She sat calmly to the side waiting to produce her gift at the very end. Is it because she's a girl? Or were these boys just pure animals?

I can now see why the mother chose to throw a party at MacDonald's. I can't even imagine that craziness at her house. As it is, her place is pretty small with no real yard to speak of, plus she's 8 months pregnant. Oh, and there's the air conditioning. Many homes lack that here (better for the environment, at least), but MacDonald's keeps theirs running in the summer. I really couldn't complain too much about that, myself, because our house has been an inferno the past few days. We have a little electronic weather station set up in the kitchen, and the temp has been hovering around 90F all day long. I didn't even cook anything here, today. Imagine if I had! As things are now, I've got no energy to do anything in this heat. The dishes and laundry are calling to me, but I'm having a really hard time hearing them buried under all this sweat.

Another good thing about attending a party at MacDonald's is to see how successfully we are brainwashing teaching our kids. They served juice, ice cream, and then later an ice cream cake. Lambchop #1 had already eaten ice cream this morning on a trip to the beach with her grandfather. She was almost in tears when she saw more ice cream. She didn't want it. We're talking about a 5-year-old turning down ice cream, of all things. One of the other mommies assured her that if she didn't want it, she didn't have to eat it. So, in the end, she neither ate the ice cream, nor the ice cream cake. On the way home in the car, I asked her why she didn't want it. Her response was simply that she wanted to eat a meal at home, because she likes her mommy's cooking. Now how's that for a fully trained child? I believe I may have a couple of nutritionally conscious cartoons to partially thank for that, though. Either way, I ain't complaining.

Oh, and a funny thing happened on the way home from the party. It was one of those times I wish I had one of those camera-phones. I saw a garage or something of that sort named "ASSASS AUTO". No joke. And, you know, maybe it's just me, but I'm not taking my car to be repaired at a place run by not one but two asses. How about you?