*24*

For the record, playing Julie Cruise Director's never been my thing.  Not that I don't like to try, it's just that events I do try to organize, particularly ones that require rallying others, tend not to materialize.  So, imagine finding myself and the Monkey in PA, with a group of terrific people I'd never met before, who'd enthusiastically rallied on short notice.  Yee-haw!

It gets better.  The place in question was the remote but adorable Philly 'burb of Phoenixville, PA, and the peeps in question were two blog buddies I've known thru email and occasional phone calls for a few years (you may know them, too!) and their kids, all of us connected thru the strange and wacky world of Russian adoption.  Mix n' matched between us, we had 2 Murmansk monkey clowns, who at one point lived together in the same group in the same baby home; 2 blonde-haired Kirov cuties who'd never met, a boy and a girl; and a beautiful boy from Ekat.  All these munchkins are between 4 and 7.  (And no sh*t, these kids are gorgeous!)  :-)

Mama K, as we'll call her here, wrote up a great synopsis of the day on her blog, Dreams Really Do Come True, so for the full story - and her true identity - check it out....and come back!

After the events wound down, and the kiddies were just about conked out in the car, K dropped us off at Rock n' Roll After School, the tres-cool creation of my friend Erin.  I've always known Erin as the veteran rocker chick, so had another surreal moment watching my little Monkey girl, who until recently didn't sing, let alone show much interest in musical instruments, hop up on the stage and, after dabbling with a few other instruments, plunk her miniscule booty down and channel her inner Sheila E. behind the drum kit.  Hey, who rocks out better, singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?  (BIG thanks to Erin for letting her tool around on all the equipment...you're a better man than I!).  Back at Erin's house, Monkey was knocked down, trampled,  mauled, and licked by Erin's exuberant Bernese Mountain Dog.... who she still wants to go back and play with some more.  Sigh.

All in all, we're talking about maybe 24 hours.  But what a cool trip.  Monkey and M (her red-headed male counterpart), who we've always thought showed some similarities, instantly bonded in giddy lunacy, and their similarities became even more apparent.  It felt like everyone had just stepped out of their blogs and photos and were moving and talking.  Hanging with my blog buddies in person was a trip in itself, and watching these 5 fantastic but very individual munchkins play and play nicely all day was a kick, that gets even more surreal as I look back.  For those of you who've been in this blog world, the pics are really kind of wild...a pretty big deal, if you think about where each of these munchkins is from, how they each found their forever family, and how they/ we then all found ourselves together on a big ol' playdate.   The only thing I'd wanna see different next time is to have even more of you there...oh, and maybe a bathroom.  :-)