Mike and I have been married for just about ten months.  We don’t have any “couple-friends” yet.  We each have several of our own “old” friends.  I have a couple friends that Mike just doesn’t like, and he has a couple friends who I don’t care for either.  Most of these “dislikes” are due to where they are in life, what they are doing socially, etc.

I have an old friend who has a husband that Mike just doesn’t have anything in common with, as well as the friend’s husband still being relatively friendly with my EX-husband.

So, it really is time in our life for us to make new friends.  Friends we can have over for dinner.  Friends we can share/exchange babysitting with.  Fortunately for us, our neighborhood is BOOMING with young couples with young children. So, we took the opportunity this weekend and invited several of them over for an afternoon cook-out on Saturday. 

The “kids” across the street are a couple much younger than we are.  They are 25 and 26 years old.  Mom stays home with their two-year old son and almost-one-year old daughter.  Dad is a Latin teacher at a prestigious prep school in our neighborhood.  They moved in about two weeks after we did last summer.  We adore their kids!  Mike and I have babysat for them, and have had them over for parties and impromptu dinners. 

The family next door also came, minus the wife/mom.  Husband  is a Spanish man, probably about 35-40 years old, and a Middle School Math teacher.  Mom is a Japanese lady, seems a bit younger than the husband, and she works as a chef at a local Japanese restaurant.  They have an almost-five year old son who will be going to Kindergarten with Abby. The husband has traveled the world, and has stories from everywhere.   They are a very odd nice. 

The backyard neighbors came also.  Abby actually met the husband last week, as he was building a new shed/greenhouse/playhouse.  You see, our backyards are fenced in, and we “kitty-corner” with their yard.  Turns out, he has a wife who works for my favorite place on Earth Target and a 3.5 year old daughter.  The daughter and Abby really got along well, and Mike and I both enjoyed talking with the Mom and Dad.

Finally, we also last-minute-invited another family who we know from down the block about five or six houses.  They are both Chiropractors, in practice together.  They have a son who is about four, and a second son who is six-months old… again, more baby for us to enjoy having around.  Dad Chiropractor also is dairy-allergic, so his perspective and experience as an adult was interesting to talk about. 

Mike started us with delicious appetizers of Italian bread toasted on the grill with fresh tomato, basil and mozzarella cheese.  Then he cooked steak, chicken, cheeseburgers and hot dogs on the grill.  We also had corn-on-the-cob, macaroni salad and tossed salad for dinner.  Backyard neighbors brought a bottle of wine, and Mike also made Margaritas. 

We had a great afternoon.  The kids played until it was getting dark and chilly.  All neighbors seemed to enjoy themselves, and appreciated the invite… in fact, mentioned “doing this again” at their houses.