While walking, we met a sweet family that is new to the neighborhood. They have young kids, a big dog, and just moved here from Boston, so naturally we liked them right away and had a lot to talk about. Even being from Boston, I still think they find Casey to be slightly over-the-top crazy about the Red Sox, especially after learning that he took some dirt from Fenway Park into the operating room when Riley was born.
By 10:30, we were at the pool, meeting up with some friends who (poor them) have a 22-month-old little girl (Khloe) and 3-month-old twin boys. Riley and the little girl are "friends" or as much as they can be since they are pretty much still only capable of playing near each other instead of with each other. Either way, it was fun watching them splash around together. Riley has become obsessed with crawling and walking up and down and up and down and up and down... the ramp leading into the pool. He is less concerned with actually swimming and getting wet than he is with mastering the skill of ramp climbing.
At one point during "pool break" (when no kids are allowed in the pool), Riley's new love interest (Emily, the 6-year-old daughter of some other friends) decided to entertain Riley and Khloe. I have never seen anything as cute as watching the three of them walk around the outside of the pool together -- Emily in the middle holding onto one of Khloe's hands and one of Riley's hands. I am hardly ever without camera, but this is one of those moments I wasn't able to capture and will forever wish I had. Fortunately, something tells me there will be a "next time".
After both our fun at the pool and nap time (almost 3 hours!!!), it was time to head to The Big Chill, an all-you-can-eat ice cream charity event in the West End. Just as we were piling into the car, a large storm cloud came into view. By the end of the 3 minute car ride to our destination, it looked a bit dicey. But we were meeting some friends who were there with their 6 week old, so we figured we could brave the elements if they were. Literally just about the second we stepped out of the car, the skies opened up and we were standing in a torrential downpour. After about 10 seconds, we decided to get back into the car. A few minutes later, the rain slowed down to a tolerable level and we decided to try to find our friends. We quickly found them, but within minutes (a minute???), the skies opened up again. There was no escaping the rain this time (although we tried our best at first to hide under a large tree), and Riley was fascinated by the rain, so Casey decided to leave the slight cover provided by the tree and take Riley to explore in the storm. After about 2 minutes, I decided that they looked like they were having a big time, and not wanting to miss out, I left the tree and joined them. Fifteen minutes later, we were still stomping in puddles and generally enjoying being soaking wet and not having a care in the world. It was one of those opportunities to throw "rules" and caution aside that rarely come along, and I am so glad Casey and Riley were there to encourage us to take advantage of the situation and make it into my absolute favorite memory of the weekend. We eventually came back to our senses and realized that we would probably all be sick before too long if we stayed in the wet clothes. It is amazing what a good soaking will do to cool you off in a hurry, even when it is still horribly hot outside. It was the kind of chill that inspires you to put on sweatpants and long sleeves during the middle of July in North Carolina and we loved every second of it.
(Riley post rain storm)P.S. If being mom to a little boy means that I get to play in puddles, sign me up for a few more!!!
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