Kinloch-A-Palooza

Our neighborhood is called Kinloch, which is Scottish for "Head of the Lake".  Have I mentioned that the folks of Chicagoland seem to have an odd affinity for all things British?  One house we looked at was on Royal Porthcawl Drive.  I rejected it based on the name alone!  There was no way I could say that with a straight face, let alone spell it.

So the good folks of Kinloch must have known we were coming, because they held their version of a neighborhood block party less than two weeks after we moved in.  Only here, we were happy to find, they do things UP.  The party is called "Kinloch-A-Palooza" and it included

• Moonwalk
• Obstacle Course Moonwalk
• Tent, tables, chairs
• Hot dog/sausage cart with all the fixin's (including corn on a stick - a huge hit with the kids)
• Pot Luck vegetarian Indian buffet (turns out our neighborhood has a pretty sizeable Indian contingent.  I had no idea how happy this would make my tummy!)
• A MAGICIAN!

• Movies after dark on the neighborhood's own outdoor movie screen.  I'm not kidding - you can even borrow it for fun. It's just like this one from the Frontgate catalog that Marc and I always comment on - as in "Who on earth would buy this thing?"  Well, now we know!

There were kids everywhere!  It goes without saying that our kids were out of their minds, having fun, for so long that they eventually collapsed.  We met tons of our neighbors - they are virtually all our age, all with kids, and all as friendly as can be.  And they were wearing name tags, BONUS!

At one point, Marc was hanging with a group of dads and their topics of discussion included the poker trip they all took together last year, the standing Saturday morning tee time they have (and invited Marc in on) and how socialism is threatening to ruin America. 

I'm surprised Marc didn't weep with joy right there.  He had found HIS PEOPLE! 

The party went on into the wee hours, but we were wiped out and in bed by 10pm.  It was an incredible day for us all, and really showed us how our leap of faith is being rewarded.  We're looking forward to next year's party already!

Miss Molly, skipping through our next door neighbor's yard to get to the party.

Home again, home again, jiggedy jig!