When blogs collide, East Coast style
Today the boys and I headed down I-95 for a very special playdate -- we met Erin and Jen in real life! While we lived in Seattle, we had the opportunity to meet the Flingers of Portland-area fame. It seems a little surreal, then, that somehow we should wind up on the complete opposite coast and meeting Erin and Jen, Baltimorean blog-mommies. I've read Erin's blog for two years now. I started reading Jen's blog about a year ago and followed her pregnancy as she did mine. Erin's Ben is two weeks older than Isaac; Jen is mom to groovy kid Zach, toddler Ryan (who's 2-1/2), and Lily, who is two weeks older than Jacob.
Allow me to get sappy for a second, but Erin is the inspiration for starting this blog. She followed an iVillage message board I participated in for awhile and answered a question I had. At the bottom of her answer, she tagged her web address. I followed the link, read her delicious tales of life with her very own baby human, and thought, "Dude, what a great idea! A blog! I should do that! My mom will totally read it!"
But enough about me. On with the date! Most of the pictures below were taken by Erin, who also has an account of the playdate on her blog. Jen's account is posted here.
After reading of this gigantic playground supposedly made of spun sugar and fairy dust that the Baltimoreans get to frequent whenever they want, I decided Isaac needed some of that action. It turns out that it was only 40 minutes away. Two tollbooths and my guilty-pleasure Keith Urban CD later, we were there. Piece of cake. I even spotted Erin with her bangs and her toddler-in-tow from the parking lot.
What was not such a piece of cake was getting to talk to Erin and Jen, given the inherent property of toddlers to tend toward disorder. Group together? No way! say they. There were a few moments at first where Isaac wanted to check Ben out a little, you know, slurp some juice together...
...climb on the ladder all the way to the top by themselves together...
But then Isaac was off exploring this (shady!) maze of tunnels under the gigantic play structure...
...or checking out the memorial garden:
Yeah, so maybe the playground in the middle of summer was not the best meeting place I could have suggested. After the toddlers had gone their separate ways for about an hour in the sweltering, sweaty, humid and nasty heat, the mommies decided it was time to pull rank and head out for a bite (and a cold, cold drink) somewhere with air conditioning. But not before we did our best to corral the toddlers into one place for picture time. Here are some of the better takes:
Jen knew of a Mickey D's nearby that had an indoor playplace. Finally, time for the grown-ups to get their chat on! When Ben wasn't trying to scale high chairs or Isaac wasn't shoving Ben to the ground, that is. Lily and Jacob got along famously, though. Apparently they speak the same language, and Lily knows a lot of jokes. "So a boobie and a bottle walk into a bar..."
Erin convinced a nice lady to take a picture of those of us who will stand still on command. Somehow I, with my towering 5'4" frame, am the tallest one.
We had a fabulous time, and Erin and Jen were both so cool and really, really nice. We'd love to do it again sometime!
Allow me to get sappy for a second, but Erin is the inspiration for starting this blog. She followed an iVillage message board I participated in for awhile and answered a question I had. At the bottom of her answer, she tagged her web address. I followed the link, read her delicious tales of life with her very own baby human, and thought, "Dude, what a great idea! A blog! I should do that! My mom will totally read it!"
But enough about me. On with the date! Most of the pictures below were taken by Erin, who also has an account of the playdate on her blog. Jen's account is posted here.
After reading of this gigantic playground supposedly made of spun sugar and fairy dust that the Baltimoreans get to frequent whenever they want, I decided Isaac needed some of that action. It turns out that it was only 40 minutes away. Two tollbooths and my guilty-pleasure Keith Urban CD later, we were there. Piece of cake. I even spotted Erin with her bangs and her toddler-in-tow from the parking lot.
What was not such a piece of cake was getting to talk to Erin and Jen, given the inherent property of toddlers to tend toward disorder. Group together? No way! say they. There were a few moments at first where Isaac wanted to check Ben out a little, you know, slurp some juice together...
...climb on the ladder all the way to the top by themselves together...
But then Isaac was off exploring this (shady!) maze of tunnels under the gigantic play structure...
...or checking out the memorial garden:
Yeah, so maybe the playground in the middle of summer was not the best meeting place I could have suggested. After the toddlers had gone their separate ways for about an hour in the sweltering, sweaty, humid and nasty heat, the mommies decided it was time to pull rank and head out for a bite (and a cold, cold drink) somewhere with air conditioning. But not before we did our best to corral the toddlers into one place for picture time. Here are some of the better takes:
Jen knew of a Mickey D's nearby that had an indoor playplace. Finally, time for the grown-ups to get their chat on! When Ben wasn't trying to scale high chairs or Isaac wasn't shoving Ben to the ground, that is. Lily and Jacob got along famously, though. Apparently they speak the same language, and Lily knows a lot of jokes. "So a boobie and a bottle walk into a bar..."
Erin convinced a nice lady to take a picture of those of us who will stand still on command. Somehow I, with my towering 5'4" frame, am the tallest one.
We had a fabulous time, and Erin and Jen were both so cool and really, really nice. We'd love to do it again sometime!
posted by Claire at 9:49 PM
3 Comments:
I should have known your take on it would be hysterically funny... although now I am very self conscious of my bangs. (they are not nice to me in the heat and humidity) ;P
Also, next time we all get our pic taken together? We hsould not stand in front of a window... lest we be "The Silhoetted Mommy Bloggers".
We had such a great time. Let's play again! (somewhere cool and/or with water) ;)
Okay, I take offence to that heght comment since I too am 5'4" ;-) I guess if I want to be noticed for my amazingly tall frame (like Claire)I should stand up straight next time.
Erin send me a full res version of the mommy picture and I'll see what I can do with photo shop to lighten it up.
As for another playdate, I'm in!Claire mentioned the Aquarium. It's about time for us to do our annual season pass switch from the zoo to the Aquarium. There is also Dutch Wonderland with the little water park.
Y'all looked like you had SO much fun. really. What a great group of wonderful women. Even if I've only met one third of you in person, I swear I know y'all. :=)
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