Delaware, Germantown, Delaware

Yet another crazy Saturday from the standpoint of the social calendar. It started with me taking the kids down to Delaware to tour Winterthur Garden, which was free courtesy of a family wedding taking place there this weekend. The kids had a blast being out in nature, running barefoot in the grass, watching bees pollinating flowers, and playing with every single thing in the Enchanted Woods. The whole thing is walkable, but city folk as we are, we also made liberal use of the tram that circulates throughout the grounds.

We jetted from there to my uncle's house in Hockessin to partake in a fantastic Taiwanese lunch. Well, I scarfed down the good Taiwanese food; Aaron and Jada ate hot dogs outside underneath a big tree in their backyard.

Alas, we had to eat and run, for Jada had a birthday party at the Germantown Cricket Club. It was a little surreal to arrive into the neighborhood via Regional Rail, hoof it down the street through a fairly mixed-income neighborhood, and then arrive on the property to see endless fields of grass tennis courts and impeccably beautiful people dressed in all white hitting volleys and serves.

We made our way to the pool, where our birthday party was, and Jada almost immediately jumped in. Though she can't swim, once she saw her friends go off the diving board, she wanted to do it too, and she kind of toppled over the edge of the board and into my awaiting arms. That seemed to be enough of the bigger kids' pool for the afternoon, and she spent the rest of the time in the kiddie pool while I got to know the other parents and drank copious amounts of lemonade.

Dinner and cake ensued, and then it was back to the Regional Rail station and back home, where I showered, Jada changed back into her dress, and Aaron made his case to come to dinner with us so he could see his cousins again. So off we sped back down to Delaware, and another fantastic meal, this time at a Chinese restaurant. Bride and groom to be were smiling ear to ear, and plenty of family made the gathering quite fun, especially when the witching hour hit and the kids starting running around the restaurant.

I decided not to push things too much and we quietly excused ourselves at around 9ish, well past their bedtime and with an hour in the car still to go. Of course, not five minutes had passed when Jada announced she needed to go pee. I kicked myself for not asking her before we left; we ended up at a Wendy's, where Aaron and Jada both made their contribution, and then we were off again.

Both kids conked out about halfway home, and were a bear to get down again once we got home, but soon enough, all was quiet and two little kids were asleep again, with skin a little burnt and leg muscles a little sore, and memories of cousins and nature and swimming and good food dancing in their heads. That's about as good as it gets for two little kids from Philly.