My niece, Rapunzel (no, that’s not her real name), turned twelve yesterday and we celebrated by having an 80′s flashback party at the local roller rink. We didn’t wear old prom dresses and rock out to Depeche Mode (which I would have liked) but we did have a really good time skating and acting like a bunch of tweenagers. It took me back to my own tween days. Like totally.

We broke out the totally tubular glow bracelets and waved them around like we really didn’t care. I don’t know if glow bracelets were popular back in the 80′s. I sort of remember them at Disneyland…but they were super fun in the semi-darkness of the skanky skating rink that probably hasn’t been painted, re-carpeted or vacuumed since the 80′s. It’s such a dive. But we love it because of that.

The candy bar from Bug’s Rainbow Birthday made an appearance with some old school Now and Laters, candy dots and blow pops. They never go out of style.

Bug even skated a few laps with real big girl skates that actually rolled—unlike last time where she trudged around with wheel-locked skates. I need to take her more often so she gets the hang of it. I tried really hard to hold her up and push her around but it was murder on my back. I guess I’m not really a tweenager anymore.

Rapunzel opened presents and we ate technicolored cupcakes that CC made by the light of a nearby coke machine and our many many glow bracelets.

And then we skated, skated, skated until we smelled like sweat-balls from the 80′s and they turned the lights on and kicked us out.

My Grandma is the Queen of theme parties. In my lifetime she’s thrown full blown shin-digs that range from a Greek dinner where everyone wore togas and sat at long tables eating baklava and sandwiches wrapped in grape leaves to a crazy tie-die t-shirt-wearing “Un-Birthday Party” for the whole family…to a train station party for my brother when he was three that included various ticket-punching stations and a relay race across the backyard with a giant over-stuffed suitcase. I have so many memories of these crazy full-blown over-the-top parties. And I don’t mean over-the-top expensive. They weren’t. They were just really creative and fun. So maybe some of that enthusiasm for a good theme party trickled down to me.

When I posted a little blurb a while back about wishing I could host a black and yellow tea party, my Grandma took hold of my idea and ran with it. Mind you, she’s getting older now and has to be really careful that she doesn’t over-do because she tends to end up in the hospital when she does. This is really hard for her because the one thing she really loves to do is over-do. I can so relate.

She asked me to let her know when I was coming to town again and she started planning. She tucked little ideas away in an idea folder and before I knew it had dreamed up the most fantastic pink-themed tea party for little girls. The only problem was scheduling it. When would be a good time for all of us and not put Grandma over the edge and in the hospital again?

I knew I was heading out to the sticks this weekend so I called her up and we set a date. The only problem was she really really couldn’t over-do because she is scheduled to fly up to Canada on Tuesday for another granddaughter’s wedding. We can’t have her sick when she has a very important wedding to attend.

At first Grandma said she couldn’t do it. Then my Aunt Keren called up and said maybe she could if we were all really careful and helped out a lot. It’s such a hard call. To over-do or not over-do. Grandma only has so many more days left here with us. Should we live them up having fun tea parties or should we keep her in bed resting so she can stay with us longer?

We voted for both. The girls helped out making sandwiches.

I think my Aunt Keren did a lot of behind the scenes work and made sure Grandma stayed sitting down. And my mom, who is on a very strict diet and couldn’t eat a single thing on the menu, even helped out.

I think everything worked out. We weren’t short on effort…

…or food.

Then after our delicious tea party lunch we had a little treasure hunt for the girls and the last clue was to put Grandma to bed so she could rest.

Because we want to do this again and again and again…if Grandma is feeling up to it, of course.

We took a road trip out to Palm Springs this past Friday. Bug and I needed some adventure and my mom and my nieces needed a day off from school. Well, my mom isn’t in school but she needed some time off from her full time job of playing Farmville all day. I swear she needs an intervention with that game.

Our first stop was the Cabazon Dinosaurs. I’d never been before so this was a real treat for me. However the wind that almost whipped my head off was not a real treat. I guess a mighty wind is better to deal with than 120 degrees of heat though.

The girls climbed around on the dinosaur claws and then we went inside the giftstore/museum to pet some freaky robot dinosaurs that growled and snarled at us. If the management wanted to, they could really make that tour scary. Add some mood lighting and haunted music and I’d be scared right out of my skin. Thankfully, it’s mostly geared to education with some gospel preaching on the side.

I really like how this museum tour is interactive with dinosaur bones to dig and colored rocks to sluice. The kids had a blast. I think it was worth the five dollar admission even with the wind that tied our hair up in knots.

I think the funnest part is staging crazy photos where the dinosaurs look real. Run Little Bug! Run!

Spring in the desert is always beautiful.

Of course we had to climb up inside the giant t-rex and sit in his mouth for a while. That was pretty fun.

By the time we were done with the dinosaurs we were famished so we drove into town and found a nice spot for a picnic.

Nothing like a yummy avocado sandwich! Except I put sprouts on my sandwich (no one else did) and I came down with food poisoning the next day. So even though this picnic was delightful I’m not remembering it that fondly now that I’ve lost ten pounds violently. But hey I fit my skinny jeans now!

The weather in Palm Springs was beautiful. I’m sure it’s because they have that great big mountain to block all the wind. When we were on the other side of the mountain we were cold and wind blown but as soon as we turned the corner into town there were people all over walking around in shorts and tank tops. Funny how that works.

But that wasn’t the end of our road trip. We had to stop by my favorite favorite thrift store on the way out of town. I had some baby-sitting money burning in my pocket and we had a lot of fun spending it on silly hats and vintage clothes.

Then I went home and got really really sick! I guess things have to balance out and we had too much fun or something. The good news is I’m all better! Phew!