A glossy brochure kind of day

It was Quinn's friend MacKenzie's first birthday today and there was a gathering at Britannia Park. We thought we were going to miss it entirely due to an almost two hour nap this afternoon - of course: any other time we wouldn't care and he'd sleep short. But people were still there when we showed up two hours late.

At first we thought we'd missed them and we tried Quinn in the big framed backpack carrier. He loved it! He bounced along and giggled away merrily and didn't even puke down my neck even once! Then we found the party and he was enjoying looking around at everybody and everything. He was especially taken with balloons, which he saw for the very first time. He batted at them and grabbed onto them and watched them move in the breeze. Then the party broke up and we went for another walk in the backpack. Britannia Beach is a windsurfing mecca on the Ottawa River and there were lots of windsurfers and kite sailors. There were people flying kites. There were people walking tightropes. There were lots of people who were quite taken with our giggling, laughing son who was clearly enjoying the best ride of his life.

Of course after all that he just didn't want to nap. He was exhausted when we got home. We rushed him through dinner, bathtime and nighttime routine and got him to bed. He fell asleep in about twelve seconds. I think this was the best day so far of his young life. *This* is the kind of day they show in the glossy brochures.