"And in conclusion, I'd like to summarize my earlier points on child rearing..."

The best thing about hosting a 5-year-old's Birthday party is looking back, hopefully self-satisfied and unblemished.  That's how we still feel after Saturday's celebration for Maya.  The kid did great.  As did her 18 compatriot guests, plus a few younger humans and a bevy of adults that stuck around.  I'd like to recommend the place where we had the party - Arena Sports in Magnuson Park.  Extra credit points for the name of the park.  But that only pulls the place up to a C-minus.  The kids couldn't care less if a place is horribly dirty and on the brink of condemnation (which this Arena Sports certainly is) so long as they can run wild on the indoor soccer field and massive bouncy gyms (yes, that's a plural).  Some of the parents even got a few swings in at the decrepit pitching machine in the batting cage.  No one injured, no one's feelings even noticeably hurt.  The only thing that sucked was my little thank-you speech to everyone at the end of the party.  Seldom has the internal commentary "am I still talking out loud?" applied so well.  At least I didn't call anyone a chickenplucker or anything close to that.

The other big part of this past week was having my parents visit from Wisconsin.  We hit some things I don't do often enough when I'm not in tour guide mode - browsing through the quietly awesome Nordic Heritage Museum in Ballard, brunch at Lowell's in the Pike Place Market at such a time where we basically had the whole second floor to ourselves (sshhh!), a quick jaunt out to Snoqualmie Falls where the winds were whipping and the observation deck was closed which was actually a more authentic feel than any sort of postcard day.  Plus they got loads of grandparenting time, along with a handful of visits to Maya's Pre-K.  They left tired but satisfied, with us staying behind feeling much the same.

So now the nation turns its focus to what a cranky ol' sumbitch Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) is and always has been.  Here's hoping the guy has a grandchild or a few to soften up that mental kidney stone he's waiting to pass.  Hope your own stones do so quietly today.  Rock on.