Three Day Reunion Tour

I'm just beginning to recover from a very fun and very memorable weekend. I can sincerely say I will be able to remember it because I've taken loads of pictures of three events spanning three days. Four if you count the birthday party we went to for Henry's classmate.


It's Tuesday and though I've been dying to post the pictures of the Tour of NDA, our Reunion Dinner and Family Picnic, I've been buried with little tasks left and right. I apologize for taking so long to get back to the blog. But finally, I've found a few hours to take a deep breath and settle my thoughts.


FRIDAY
On Friday I raced to drop the kids off at my parents to attend the Tour of the NDA grounds. I also promised Victoria that I would give her a ride home since she was getting out of class around the same time.


I gave myself an hour, because let's face it it's Friday nearing rush hour and we're in L.A. On the way we encountered crazy traffic, we quickly found out that the hold up was a broken water hydrant. Luckily things clear up soon afterwards. Once there, I was bracing myself for a possible scene upon my departure. I kissed Henry goodbye and to my surprise upon giving Rhys a kiss, he responded with "Bye, Mommy. See you later!" and hopped off to play with Henry.

Amazingly I made it to my old high school with 20 minutes to spare! I entered the campus and was happy to see that Marion was already there. We chatted for a bit before we were joined by Kim C and Sandy. Kim C is now a mother of 3 boys living in rural Maryland. Sandy is still living in LA and looking fabulous. Shortly afterwards the rest of the group, which included Anne, Jennifer, Kim M, Ariane and Heather arrived.


What followed was a surreal tour down memory lane. A lot of memories came flooding back. Though much of the staff has changed, a few of our old teachers are still teaching and many of their names were tossed around during our tour. Mrs. Roth. Mrs. Gilbert. Mr. Geise. Mr. Brenner. Mrs. Durkee. Crazy how much power these names hold over high school memories.


Here's a picture of Jennifer leaving a note to our beloved Geometry teacher, Mr. Geise. Overall the school still looks spectacular. They have added on rooms, floors and classes. There is photography and dance now, and even a weight room. How things have changed! And yet many things have remained the same. Sister Gina Marie is now in Rome doing some sort of accounting. Sister Mary Paul is now President of the school. We bumped into Sister Anna Maria who was supervising a poetry club in the cafeteria.


I later told Victoria how much I related to Rory going to Chilton because of my experience at NDA; and how I always felt Rory's school should have also been an all girls school.


SATURDAY
Saturday came all too soon. All of the sudden I found myself rushing to get ready for the birthday party Henry had been invited to by his classmate Anna. It was a very nice party, another chance to talk and mingle with the parents of Henry's friends. But because of our big "to do", we left soon after cake and rushed home.

Rhys due to his extreme exertions at the party, thankfully fell asleep soon after we got home. Henry occupied himself with his newest Lego set and Kenny decided to take a quick nap before getting ready. Angele soon came over to watch the kids. And wouldn't you know it? Right as we are about to step out the door Rhys awakes and proceeds to throw a hissy fit. Now the problem with Rhys was that he woke up because he needed to go to the bathroom, but since he's still getting used to doing that, he often doesn't understand what has woken him and gets fussy. So now he's awake and pissed. I quickly give him a kiss and as soon as I succeeded in extricating myself from him, Kenny and I make a mad dash for the car!


We met up with Yun and Joe at Caroline and Herb's house. The house looks simply gorgeous after the remodel and I was excited for Caroline to give Kenny a tour. She really does have a gift! We all settled down afterwards for a little refreshment before heading off to James Beach in Venice.




The drive to the venue took about 15 minutes and after leaving the valet area we entered James Beach and headed straight into our private room. I tried my best to speak with everyone present.


It was really wonderful to see everyone and hear how well they are all doing. I am still processing much of the evening, so in lieu of what was spoken I will just name names. Dalia. Shannon S. Melinda. Anne. Sandy. Jennifer. Carolyn T. Heather. Ariane. Marion. Carolyn B. Stefanie. Judy. Joy C. Kim C. Aileen. Kim M. Lucia. Joy Z. Carmela. Coco. Lisa. Caroline F. Breda. Kolleen. Belinda. Sara K. Michelle. Velvet. Caroline. Yun.


Those who still live locally we promised to get together soon and others who travelled great distances we professed a wish to one day visit.






The six of us called it a night at about 10:30. Our feet were killing us! And though there was plenty of food at the Reunion not many of us took full advantage. Food was the last thing on many of our minds when given the opportunity to speak with people we have literally not seen in so long. So to end our prom-like evening properly we decided to have an after party at the local In'N'Out.


SUNDAY

The picnic was set for 11am and knowing this fact made it even harder to get out of bed. I sat in bed with my laptop perusing photos I had taken from the past two days, while all three boys broke out a huge new Lego set. As time quickly ticked away I kept pushing back the moment to get things going. Finally at 10:00a I called for everyone to get ready! Henry began to whine about not wanting to go so he could stay to complete the Lego set. I had to resort to blackmail to get him to comply. I threatened to take the set away for a week if he did not immediately go brush his teeth and get dressed!


After picking up the promised baguettes from Paneara, (fresh and piping hot!) we arrived at the park a little past 11. A handful of people were already setting up. Mainly the Reunion committee Sandy, Anne and Ariane along with their families.


As for Henry? Turns out he did not regret coming to the picnic once he laid eyes on Heather's daughter Sofia. They became quick friends spending much of the afternoon together. Both Heather and I have kids the same age, Sofia and Henry are 7 and Gabriel and Rhys are 4. Kenny did inform me afterwards that Rhys and Gabriel had a little run in, which involved sand and some shoving, but after they got that out of their systems they got along great!


It was a lovely day and as more and more people began to arrive the more and more fun we had. It was a very relaxed atmosphere from the night before and it was a much more conducive environment to reacquaint ourselves with our old school chums. There were so many kids there and each and every one of them so very very cute!







Joy Z's boys were also very cute. They made up a surprise contingent of Dalia's fan club. The first words out of their mouths once they arrived was "Where's Dalia?"


Yours sincerely pictured with Dalia.