What a weekend...

Thanks to everyone who made the trek down to Alexandria for the birthday festivities, and for those of you who couldn't, Click Here for TONS of pictures (would you expect anything less??).

Friday (Harry's official Day 365) began with quite an adventure... An early-morning rush-hour jaunt to downtown DC for Kim's follow-up visit from LASIK surgery the afternoon before. After quite a few laps around the block (no street parking until after 9:30 am) we headed back home, Kim 's eyes were A-OK, in fact had already progressed to 20/20.

As the South Jersey contingent began to arrive and Kim put some of the final touches on party prep, Harry and I headed to the airport to pick up Grandma Patty. From one mode of mass transit to another, we stopped back at home to pick up Kim & Pop-pop and met up with the Wiley/Decker representatives and Lisa & Christian Ahrens (in for the weekend from Coatesville PA) for most everyone's first trip on the DC Metro to head to the National Zoo to rendezvous with the Coltons (in for the day from Brick NJ), our neighbors Ceri & Owen Fleet, and the new Cheetah Cubs.

A lot of walking in the rain and many various animal displays later (we won't discuss the bird-eating monkey from the Amazonia exhibit here... Maybe another time), we all headed back to the Holiday Inn for an all-you-can eat feast of crab legs & seafood buffet. As it would turn out, Harry's birthday ended up being the latest he's ever stayed up past his bedtime... He made it until about 9:45pm before conking out.

Which is not to say that he slept all morning, as you may have expected (read: hoped). Up at 5:00am, I think he knew that it was time to party. Lots of last minute pickups, deliveries, and setups, all with every available finger crossed to avoid the thunderheads that had been predicted with 80% likelihood. All the while, Harry went for a stroll, and decided to take a nice powernap before his guests began to arrive.

With the rains hitting quite steadily over the previous 24 hours, even the strong sunshine wasn't enough to dry everything up outside, so we set everything up in the house. I think most in attendance would agree that we packed 6510 Cavalier to the gills on Saturday, and the overflow into the backyard was well-timed.

Just as we thought things were winding down, the second wave of guests began to arrive, but unfortunately, the weather had held out for as long as it could. After a few sprints down the front walk to cover convertible cars, all was well again, and the party went on.

As you may have heard, Harry's cake was purported to be a source of wonderment for many of the folks from above the Mason-Dixon line... Vegan? How does that work? My vote for easiest explanation came from Kim's Uncle Bill who deftly explained "...It means there's no meat in it." Well of course it does. Harry had a cake of his own, and certainly had his way with it as soon as his cousin Dominic Jr. helped him blow out the candle. Needless to say, the cake was a hit, even with the Jersey-ites. If you can make it there, you CAN make it anywhere... Even in New York!

No one seemed to notice the line on the invite requesting "no gifts please," but the assumption is that it must have been as difficult to read as the line about RSVP-ing... Regardless, Harry was extremely appreciative of all the crinkly paper and bags (oh yes, and the contents too!).

I'd like to think a wonderful time was had by all, it was really great to see everyone, and based on the never-ending ear-to-ear grin on Master Harrison's face, he had a blast as well. Thanks to everyone for coming, from near and far!


Some more reflections on Harry's first year to follow...