It is late at night and I am still sick as a dog :-( It is only the Day-Quil with its heavy duty dose of Tylenol that is enabling me to actually sit up in bed and type this. I am still feverish, chilled, achy-muscled, congested, nauseous and exhausted. But I had a GREAT time today!

We started off with breakfast at 8:30, followed by leisurely packing. We made it out the door and out of Seattle before 10:30, where I collapsed, drained, into the car and tried in vain to sleep. But I couldn't get to sleep, and ended up dozing off just when Allan pulled over 2 hours later for lunch. We saved time by getting our food to go and eating on the road, and made it to our hotel in Salem by 2pm.

What energy I had left was quickly consumed by unpacking what we needed, and I collapsed into bed for a nap before we headed out to Carl's house for a BBQ. Unfortunately I only managed about a half hour snooze, and I took some Day-Quil to help me survive the evening, intending to stay only a couple hours.

We arrived at Carl and Katharine's house around 5:30pm, and about an hour later, more of their friends started trickling in. Allan had a great time chatting away with Dave, one of Carl's partners, and his wife Kim. Me, I was my usual quiet self as I ate brisket, chicken and a burger, but the real fun started when Brian arrived with his daughter Molly, who is 6 months younger than Todd. She's adorable in the pictures I've seen of her, but is an absolute doll in person!

To my utter surprise, Todd actually wandered away from Mommy and Daddy by himself (something he NEVER does, he usually has to drag one of us along when he wants to explore another corner of wherever we are) and played with Molly! I turned around and the two little toddlers were actually engrossed in conversation! I was so fascinated I lost all interest in the adult conversation taking place at our table, and turned my attention (and camera) to the two little kids.

Now, you might not think that this is a very spectacular occurrence, but Todd is a very shy child when around new people, and this is the first time he's ever hung around another kid near his age, so it was fascinating to see him shed his shyness and actually talk to her and play with her! Just like parents get excited and crow over baby's first steps, first words, first tooth, etc... I was bowled over with excitement at seeing Todd's first real socialization.

Todd observed Molly's shoes lighting up when she walked, he showed her the sticks he was collecting for the fire, and they wandered the yard looking for more. Then she wandered inside the house and after some encouragement from me, he followed her inside, where they played in the living room, and where he told her that the remote control she held in her hand was "not a toy." She placed it on the coffee table and said "put it here?" to which he replied "yeah!". I also had to laugh at how much Todd took to her like a big brother, showing her things and practically bossing her around "come here!" and the like. Molly had ideas of her own, though, and just did her own thing when she didn't feel like going along with Todd :-) And when her Daddy admonished her to hold her milk cup with 2 hands so she wouldn't spill it, Todd listened attentively and then turned to me and repeated the lesson learned, LOL.

A hilarious moment occurred when Molly reached out to give Todd a hug. This surprised him, and he didn't know how to respond. So we encouraged him to give her a hug back. He stretched his arms out... and Molly backed away! He took a step towards her... and she backed away some more! Apparently Todd found it funny because he started laughing hard. Both fathers dissolved in a fit of giggles as Brian praised his daughter for giving the proper reaction, and Allan teased his son to get used to this and to take such rejection in stride with laughter ;-)

It was also funny when Allan and Brian got to talking and discovered just how many similarities they had-- growing up in adjacent towns, attending adjacent (and rival) high schools at roughly the same time, same college connections... talk about small world!

I got to meet Ryan and his wife briefly at the end of the evening, as they stopped by for a few minutes to say hello. And of course, tons of other friends of Carl and Katharine, the BBQ turned out to be a real huge shindig! :-) All in all-- good food, good beer, good company, good weather... I couldn't ask for a more fun evening (well, aside from no allergies and good health :-P)!

Alas, I started feeling a little unwell towards the end of the evening. Not only did it start getting chilly after the sun went down, but my allergies were kicking in full force. I was shivering and thoroughly chilled by the time we left, and we barely made it back to our hotel room before I crawled into bed and took some more Day-Quil, waiting for it to take effect so I could actually get some sleep in relative comfort. And here I am now. First thing tomorrow? Visit the hospital in town and see a doctor about this illness that has dragged on nearly a week. We're also staying an extra night here tonight, so we can all rest and recuperate.