thirteen plus

You might have heard that my baby girl has turned 13.

Now I have two teenagers.

Do you remember when we started this blog? Do you?

I had these.

And now I have teenagers. A pair of them!

We celebrated my girl's big day at our favorite local hotel with a small group of likeminded girls whose parents done raised dem right.

When I asked what kind of activities we should plan for the party, my girl rolled her eyes at me and laughed. "we don't do activities, mom. we just talk."

I threw a few tricks into the ol' bag, though, and just as the sun started to go down after an afternoon of swimming and screeching and, yes, lots of talking, I tossed each girl one of my tricks

Silly string!

It was awesome to watch them run around at top speed, top lung capacity on that little patch of grass alongside a heavily traveled access point to the debauchery that is Mission Beach on a summer weekend.

When the cans were empty, they took advantage of a convenient washing station.

love the leaper back there

Then we retired to the suite where one of us plugged in earphones and got deeper into season two while others debated the merits of trying to stay up all night while binging on junk food and, you know, talking.

Then it was back to the pool for a little synchronized swimming

I'm apparently not allowed to show you the video

It all becomes hazy after that point. I went to bed and had a fitful sleep imaging the sound of giggling and the inevitable wrath of the other moms. This hotel I love was so noisy and disruptive. It sounded like a pack of wild animals was right outside my door! I woke up around 2 and peeked in to see this (darker version):

loooooooove... you can just see my girl's legs on the near side of the bed.

In the morning, I was dozing when I heard the bellman come by to help my neighbors check out of their room, then I heard them both alluding to "this mess" and "what happened out here?" 

Oh dear. I peeked through the blinds to make sure the trash I had oh so carefully picked up and removed from the room hadn't fallen over

That was a pack of wild animals I heard!

I hid out for a while until the peeps were well past gone, then I crept out and cleaned it up. And put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door.

Then we enjoyed a gorgeously leisurely and full day of pure joy by the pool.

It's not so bad, this life.

Happy Birthday, you beautiful baby of mine.

Oh, and one more thing? Sorry I'm not sorry.