Sleepy Summit!

Sleepy Mommy history was made Monday and Tuesday when, for the very first time, Pansy and I finally got to meet each other in person! I’ll let Pansy speak for herself when she’s back home. For myself, I’ll just say I had a blast.
Pansy came down to the D.C. area on Saturday and spent Sunday with her family. I’ll let her tell the story about how they were trying to get to the Shrine but instead landed themselves in the coven; I’ll just say that if you’re going to the Shrine and taking I-395 from Northern Virginia, I would recommend taking 395 to the 3rd street tunnel, taking the tunnel all the way north to New York Avenue, and taking NY Avenue east to a left on First Street or North Capital Street, and turning right onto Michigan Avenue. But I digress. On Sunday evening, most of Pansy’s family went to Philly while Pansy and her youngest son, Gorbulas, stayed with her dad in Alexandria.
Monday was the big DC Metro Family Blogger Fiesta. KTC made it all happen, really; she very kindly picked up Pansy from Alexandria (a bit of a hike from her own neighborhood) and brought her up to my place in Maryland — all in rush hour traffic! and they still got there right on time! ( We’ve all known that KTC has one of the fattest Rolodexes in St Blog’s — she knows everybody; we know she is a first class Prayer Warrior; now we know she is a ROAD WARRIOR!) Davey’s mommy, Davey’s daddy, and Davey himself (whose new haircut makes him look just like Christopher Robin) joined us, and we had a lovely lunch together. Friends sitting around the kitchen table; a spirited, wide-ranging conversation fueled by coffee and a little dessert…. what could be better? The little boys seemed to have a good time, too, alternating between screams of territorial rage and long moments of ominous delighted silence.
Tuesday I picked up Pansy and we set off for a little touring. It would have been fun to see the Smithsonian, but that’s hard to do with two restless little boys in tow, especially on a day with rain in the forecast. We went to the Shrine and then to the JPII Cultural Center. One of the best things about the Cultural Center is it’s “Children’s Gallery” — a padded room with kids’ activities, including a toddler’s area with a latched gate (so weary parents don’t have to run after little escapees.) We turned the little boys loose and let them go at it while we visited. Afterwards we stuffed them in their strollers and looked at the exhibits.
We picked up my husband and headed to Alexandria, where we had dinner and met Pansy’s dad. But all too soon, it was time to say good-bye, and we headed back to Maryland.
Pansy is headed back home today. I so hope we can do this again sometime. We’ve been “pen-pals” (or whatever the IM equvalent is) for almost two years now, and it was so good to finally meet “in real life.” It was funny, we’ve been looking forward to this for months, but once it finally came — to me, anyway — it was like we’d always been neighbors and this was an extended play date instead of a Very Unusual Event. Pansy sitting at my kitchen table, coffee cup in hand, seemed like the most natural sight in the world.