If at First You Don't Succeed...

...Try five or six times and you will indeed have a blogger playdate!

After illness and weather forced rounds of cancellations over the past few months, Liesl and I and our kids finally got together yesterday at a children's museum.

Liesl is just delightful -- warm and sunny and easy to talk to. Of course, I already knew from the photos she's posted that Liam would be adorable. What a sweet boy! It's so nice to see a two and a half year old who is so calm and even-tempered. Unlike certain other two and half year olds, if you know what I mean.

Actually, Sean and Allie were on their better behavior. We all managed to stay together in the large museum, with Allie staging only a few jailbreaks here and there. And the kids really had a great time. Things got a little dicey when the quiet museum suddenly erupted with the arrival of approximately seventy bazillion school children on a field trip. Fortunately we were able to escape to the relatively serene, self-contained toddler room. (Serene, that is, except for the icy glare that a mother of a baby gave in response to my murmured "Sorry" as I retrieved Allie from the "crawlers only section".)

Despite what you might suspect, Liesl and I even managed to have not one but several conversations -- from crunchy parenting to blogging personae to working at home. Okay, they were conversations fractured periodically by child-tending and -searching, but conversations nonetheless. Those are always welcome during the day.

Sean and Allie didn’t want to leave but were placated by a promise that we'd all get together again soon. Can't wait!