A Free Puppy, Huh?

Tonight it was deja vu all over again as we headed down to Stellar Pizza in Georgetown for the second Sunday in a row. Last week it was Simon's end-of-the-season soccer party; this week it was Josie's. We've had these little shindigs there for years now, and have developed a fairly comfortable routine. You reserve the back room on a Sunday evening and pre-order a bunch of pies so they're all ready when the mob of hungry athletes arrives. When you get there you figure out how many pitchers of beer and root beer it will take to keep everyone happy. Someone has arranged for the trophies, and you've all chipped in for the coaches' thank-you gifts. A cake from Borracchini's usually goes over pretty well, too.


There are variations on the theme, of course. Josie's team draws names and everyone writes a poem about one of the other players, which they then recite at the party. Simon's coach (Andrew, that is) says something special about each kid as he hands out the trophies. Here he is extolling the virtues of his favorite player:


At the Tigers' party the pinball machine in the back sees an awful lot of action...



...while Josie's cohort tends to spend more time in the photo booth. (Either way, your supply of quarters is totally shot by the end of the evening.)

In my youth our soccer party pizza place had an old fire engine out front, sawdust on the floor, and silent movies playing on the back wall. Stellar Pizza has Jetsons-meets-Archie-McPhee decor, a working coin-op helicopter ride, and excellent cocktails. But I imagine you could locate both places in a narrow sliver in the center of a hypothetical Venn diagram where one circle represents "Restaurants That Won't Blanch When You Call Up To Make a Reservation Involving Twenty Children" and the other represents "Places a Grown-Up Could Happily Spend Two Hours on a Sunday Evening." It's a rare and sacred space, that sliver.

A few more random details to round out the picture:

1. This year the girls got commemorative mini soccer balls as an alternative to trophies, and pretty soon everyone had whipped out their sharpies and was busy signing autographs.


2. At Simon's team party, Josie occupied herself with the final chapter of Twilight as 8-year-old-boy chaos raged all around her:


3. We first met Tom & Pamela, our dear friends and fellow doting parents, in birth class. Our daughters were born on the same day, with the same midwives, and have been friends ever since. They now head up the Blue Crush's defensive line.


4. Coach Suzanne appears to be already plotting her post-season strategy (the tournament starts in 2 weeks):


4. Fair warning:


5. On our way out we like to make sure the incredible, uncomfortable Lego Couch is still in the window of the shop next door. Don't you want one? (But maybe not really?)