Phoenixville sits in the rain shadow of several long ridges that run just to the west of here. Storms move in from the west, hit these ridges and split. The most severe weather in this area almost always occurs to the west, north, and south of here. Friday evening after I got home, E was on a tear. It had been raining all day on and off, so his usual walk had to be suspended. He was bursting with energy and no where to go. So we took him to the quiet little mall to the west.

Most of the shopping traffic in this area centers around several of the larger malls, so on Friday evening, just before dinner time with the threat of rain keeping people inside, the mall was still nearly empty. We walked from one end to the other, rode the quarter rides at the far end, and then walked back. Along the way, E made sure to wave and say hello to everyone he passed. It was all adorably cute, even up until when we walked out into the parking lot, straight into a torential downpour.

During the time we had been in the mall, it had started to rain. No, pour. The parking lot was flooded and it was raining in literal sheets of water. The sky was just dumping it on us. So I ran and got the car while Michelle and E waited. The drive home was wonderful. I love driving in bad weather and this rain was one of the hardest I had been in in a long time. But as we crested the top of the final ridge into Phoenixville, the skies suddenly cleared. There were still ominous clouds to our north and south, and the skies behind us were still black as night. But the sky over town was clear and bright. Rainshadow.

Once home, I got a call from Michelle's childhood friend Gina's boyfriend, Painter Bob. "What are you doing tomorrow night?" he quickly asked me. "Can you get a sitter?" he added.

He went on to explain that he was planning on asking Gina to marry him and he wanted to get all of her friends together for a congratulatory surprise. Big news! So of course we booked my parents for the evening to watch E, and after a day of running after the little guy, we dropped him off Saturday night and went out for a few hours to pretend to be adults at the little bar where Gina and Painter Bob went on their first date.

The wedding will be October, 2003. Now the big worry for her wedding date is how many members of her bridal party will actually be pregnant for the wedding. Her one sister is recently married. One of her other friends is getting married in a few months. Then there's Michelle. The odds that one or more of them might actually be pregnant in October of 2003 is pretty good. So it remains to be seen whether she will, indeed, have a beachball wedding.

Speaking of beachballs, both of Michelle's sisters are currently pregnant. One is due August of this year, and the other is ready to pop. Her official due date is still ten days in the future, but we all know how accurate that math is. Tonight, just before Sunday dinner, Michelle's mom threw open the door and made the announcement that she had begun labor.

Now I'm not going to go into all the gritty details here, but we expect another cousin for E sometime within the next few days. It'll be the first girl in this generation, so everyone's been busy buying pink.

It's been one heck of a weekend. The storm broke on Friday night, and right on its heels, we've had nothing but perfect weather since. It's been one fine weekend to remember.