Ringing in the New Year.

New Year's Eve 2010

Most of my New Year's Eves (I'd say about 80% of them) have ended in tears. Therefore, every December 31 that does not involve crying is a win. There's less than an hour to go before 2010 is over, and so far so good.


Tonight we went to Aladdin's at Crocker Park with everyone for their New Year's Eve special, with plans to watch the family ball drop and the fireworks at 7 pm. We left the restaurant just as the loud speaker from the event (at the complete opposite end of the square) announced "36 seconds to go!" So we immediately start running for it, me in the lead leaving Allie, James and Tim trying to keep up with three small children, two strollers and bags of leftovers in tow. We reach the stage just as it gets down to "Three, two one!" but our view of the ball is blocked by a building so we all missed seeing it actually drop. That's when the fireworks start (woo! at least we didn't miss those, right?) At first, Jack couldn't decide how he felt about them. He resolved that "Yes, yes this is something that makes me cry." So did the two little girls. So we left. And that was the end of that.


We are now sitting in the family room - two of us asleep on the couch, the other two on laptops. Tim and I remembered that we had a bottle of sparkling cider in the fridge from our honeymoon which expired in 2009, but we're willing to take our chances in the absence of champagne. There was even talk of celebrating at 11 pm but we decided to stick it out. We.are.out.of.control.


This is life with kids, folks. It's not for the faint of heart.