Nelson and Jocelyn’s birthdays were this week. Happy birthday, guys! As they did last year, they planned a joint birthday picnic up on Montjuic. The party was scheduled to start today at 2pm.

The plan was to prepare our picnic food in the morning – Jan would make her famous Picnic Tuna Pasta Salad and I would prepare a hefty jug of my Jamaican Party Punch – and Emily would take a strategically timed afternoon nap from 1-2pm, allowing us to arrive casually late. Jan and I upheld our parts of the bargain. Emily had other plans.

After making it abundantly clear that she was not tired at one o’clock, Emily danced and sang in the living room while we watched the clock. She eventually rubbed her eyes an hour later and we escorted her to her crib. Just as she fell asleep, the skies opened up and the heavens weeped upon our laundry, almost dry on the line outside. The storm had abated when Her Majesty finally awoke an hour later, but the city was soaked and the prospect of a picnic in the park was no longer very appealing. But we pushed on.

Another hour had passed before we were able to feed Emily and receive confirmation from the party people that the picnic was still on. So at five o’clock – keeping Emily’s eight o’clock bedtime in mind – we started off to the two o’clock party. And it started to rain again.

The light drizzle soon ended and we rushed out the door to take advantage of the increasingly short amount of time we would have to spend with our friends (whom we don’t see nearly as much as we used to). The metro/bus/walk combination promised to take almost an hour to get to the remote yet breathtaking picnic location on the mountain. That would leave us with only an hour at the picnic before we had to head home again. We opted for the speedier yet pricier taxi option. And it started raining again.

Finally feeling defeated (and not able to find a free taxi, in any case), the three of us found a sliver of shelter under the balcony of an apartment building. Jan and I enjoyed watching Emily and the rain for a good 20 minutes. Still in good spirits, we cracked open the Jamaican Party Punch. When the rained finally stopped (this time for good), we decided to make the most of the moment by going for a walk around the neighborhood.

I am happy to say that we spent the loveliest of afternoons in a playground with Emily – spinning her in springy tires, rocking her in springy cars, and bouncing her on springy platforms. When we realized that we had almost finished the 1.5 liter bottle of punch, we all headed home where we passed out for a much needed nap. And then Emily refused go to bed until eleven o’clock tonight.

We have another birthday picnic tomorrow.

Ride ’em, cowgirl!