Friday, September 11, 2009

Grandparents Tea & The Dog Party

Today was the first annual "Grandparents Tea" at Alexia's school.

I knew this because Tanya told me (three times). She even claims that Alexia brought home an invitation for me but I don't think I've seen it.

Since all the Grandparents are currently whooping it up around the country in exotic places such as Arizona and Minnesota, it was up to me to "be represntin'".

No one at my house was able to give me any details about the time or specific location for this event so I took it upon myself to call the school and find out the facts. 1:45pm in the Great Hall, expected to last about 30 minutes.

It became my plan to leave work early and then work from home for the afternoon.

I arrived 5 minutes early and most of the seats were already taken. Since this was a "Grandparents" Tea, I just took up some wall space in the back and left the seats for those people who probably needed them more than I did.  Plus, I had been snacking on some garlic bread.

Soon, student after student came filing out of the hallway and into their spots on three different bleachers. I watched closely, but didn't see Alexia amongst them.

I looked again.

And again.

Nope. Not there.

I looked at the guy next to me.
He didn't seem to be focusing on any one kid.
Maybe his kid was missing also. He wasn't any help.

Maybe she was in the nurses office. Maybe she was in detention.

Quite a conundrum.

Finally the Principal came on the microphone and introduced the fourth grade classes. He informed us they would be singing two songs for our listening pleasure.

This was interesting because I'm pretty sure Alexia is in 3rd grade.

Once the two songs were over (and still no sighting of Alexia), it was announced that the Grandparents (or others in attendance) were welcomed to visit their grand childs classroom.

I called Tanya to confirm a) that Alexia is in 3rd grade, b) that 3rd graders were supposed to be at this function, c) what the heck is her teachers name and d) where the heck is her classroom.

Tanya was a) annoyed that she was getting a phone call during class and b) more annoyed that the 3rd graders weren't in the performance.  She demanded to know more.

A short while later the Principal and I had a short chat where it became evident that Grandparents (or those in attendance in lieu of Grandparents) were invited to go to all the classrooms, not just the 4th graders.  He even gave me the secret classroom map so I knew where to find Alexia.

Once in Alexia's classroom, the class initiated a Grandparent Scavenger Hunt in which the kids had to talk to all the grandparents (or those posing as grandparents) to find out which of us met certain criteria.

Some of the criteria that I met included:  likes to ride bikes, has two computers, has traveled outside the U.S. and had a black and white TV when growing up.

The kids had problems finding any grandparents who would admit to "Likes to do the Limbo".

Alexia and I headed home afterwards and found the dogs running through the house instead of being penned up in their usual quarters.

We also found out the dogs had quite the party during the day.

One of them even yakked on the couch.

Based on the chewed up packages here and there it appears they may have overindulged in Liver Treats.

My theory is that the dogs are probably hosting raging parties during the day while we are all at work/school. We just happened to catch them in the act this time by coming home early without warning.

Now that I think about it, their mutt friends were probably still hiding in the closet waiting for us to go upstairs so they could sneak out undetected.

Mikayla arrived home a few minutes later and immediately went into "Vet ER"  mode to make sure the dogs weren't getting bloated or sick from eating too much of whatever it is they may have eaten all day.  All in all, the dogs seem fine.  Maybe just a bit hungover.

Tomorrow Mikayla will be volunteering at the Dog's Life festival with her 4H group all day while Alexia and I are off to Burlington for our first three soccer games of the season.  We'll top that off with Alexia's Birthday/Slumber party.

The weather forecast for tomorrow simply says:  Awesome!

~E

1 comment:

  1. Hi Eric, I chuckled all the way through your blog. You are quite the Dad to put up with all the Grandparent Shenanegans! Then to come home to the Dog Shenanegans.... What a true family man! Love Aunt Deanna

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