Block Party


Steve & I have wanted to have a block party since moving into our house 3 years ago. Of course we can never managed to get the living room picked up, let alone get a neighborhood party planned. So while talking about the idea with our neighbor Sally about a month ago, she said that she & her husband Jim have also wanted to have a party. And thus the 1st annual neighborhood party was born.

We wanted to have it in the street between our two houses, but the cops will only allow that on National Night Out & we missed that by about a month. (maybe next year?) So we decided to have it sort of in our front yard/sidewalk, with room for t-ball & bocce in their front yard across the street.

We started setting up yesterday afternoon & hoped that the rain would hold off. We had tables & fun table cloths; a ring toss game & a Clifford bean bag toss game (both borrowed from my friend Melissa). We had fresh veggies & herbs for the taking from Sally's ridiculously awesome garden. We grilled hotdogs & ate brownies & met our neighbors!

It was really great. We had people from our street & the street below & then some in between. We had a couple of the college kids show up from the end of the block, which I thought was fantastic. We had families - with kids (yay!!) & single guys show up. It turned out to be really cool.

Dahlia met a friend. I am over the moon! A Girl! Who lives in the neighborhood! With really cool parents! She is 4 & showed up wearing a "ballet dress" & ballet slippers & I knew they would hit it off. and BOY did they. They immediately started playing. It was awesome.


We had a SURPRISE guest! We're all standing in the front lawn when CRASH - a GIGANTIC, FAT, RIDICULOUS RACCOON FELL OUT OF OUR ROOF! Yes! That's right. It was in the eaves of our dormer & the dang thing busted out the soffet & fell OUT! Wonderful. Just what we need is a slovenly raccoon living in our roof. Excellent. He pulled himself back in (great!) & didn't make any more appearances...a call to an animal control business will be on my calendar this week. Ugh.

The party went til 7:30 & it started to sprinkle just about then so everyone scattered rather quickly - which was okay with me because I was pooped (& that hot dog I ate was NOT sitting too well).

I'm so glad that we had a chance to meet & chat with our neighbors. It will be so cool now to stroll down the street & actually feel like we can chat because we've MET. There are a few that were no shows, but hopefully this will be an ongoing tradition & we can bring more people to the party next year!

And Dahlia said to me this morning..."I have a great idea! What if....I could have a PLAYDATE!" She's so excited. So am I.

Comments

Kate said…
I love that you are such a social person!
10:51 PM
Peder said…
That all sounds so very nice!
7:17 AM
Sarah in Scotland said…
I'm happy to hear that that the party was a success. Did you get rid of the raccoon yet?
7:11 AM
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