The exciting conclusion...

I am sure you have all been hanging on edge this week waiting for the thrilling ending to my half-stories from earlier. And, lest I allow you to dangle all weekend, here you go!!!

First of all, LPEG left a link via comment to alcohol laws in various states, which was completely and totally news to me. And, seriously, props to her for bringing something useful to the table...God knows I haven't been doing that much lately.

Turns out that it is legal in Massachusetts to serve your kids alcohol. That is not super surprising, really, and I imagine it is pretty standard in most states...under the supervision of a parent or guardian, the consumption of alcohol is not banned. What really got me was the next part: even if you are in an "alcohol-selling premises" (like a bar or restaurant) the consumption of alcohol by minors with parental approval is legal.

Say what?!?! In other words, if you roll into Applebees with you kids, you are allowed to order them a beer. This is true in 10 states (Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming if you are counting). I have to feel like very, very few places would actually serve it, but it was completely news to me that they are allowed to...I have never heard such a thing.

And no, I did not get her a vodka tonic with her chicken fingers last night;-)

Anyway, I am OK with a little glass of wine with dinner. I think it helps to promote responsible use of alcohol and removes some of the "magical mystery" of it, not to mention that it is the default behavior in large parts of the world that have much lower levels of alcohol abuse than we do. But, I am not gonna argue with anyone who thinks it is inappropriate.

Funny thing is...guess who was not on board? Munchkin! She drank less than half of her half glass...:-)

Next subject is her winter trip. I was surprised that she was as torn up about it as she was. She sees her friend every day, and she sees Frenchie a couple of times a year, so it seemed like a pretty easy decision to me. But she apparently has more respect for tradition than I do, because the thought of missing out on the annual trip was killing her. In the end, she opted to go to France or have him come here, but she really thought it over a LOT.

It may not matter...he had something he has to do, which was going to preclude him from coming here before Christmas (and she doesn't get out of school in time, and both Frenchie's Mom and me want our kids home on Christmas:-P), but it looks like maybe that won't be an issue, which would let him come here for a bit before Christmas Day. So, we may not have an issue after all.

Halloween...anyone have any plans? I didn't really get the girls costumes, because I couldn't find any I liked when I finally looked yesterday. I did find some adorable Halloween clothes...T-Shirts with pumpkins and black cats and witches and stuff...so they are appropriately dressed at day care today, but not really in "costume". We have a couple of things to go to tomorrow afternoon, but other than that it will be a low key weekend:-)

Have a good one!