Weirdest play date ever

Last week one of Ava's little friends from school called, and the girls really wanted to get together. Now Chris and I have a strict policy that we don't allow our kids to go to people's houses that we don't know very well. So I told the mom that her daughter was welcome to come to our house, or we could meet at a park and the girls could play and us moms could chat. She decided for the second option which is totally what I would have done in her shoes.

Fast forward to today- I made our lunches and got our waters and we headed over to the park. I pulled in right at 10:00 which was our time to meet. This older man heads over my way and says "Are you Jess?" Um what? (I didn't say that, I actually said yes) Turns out the mom had an appointment, so she had her dad drop off her daughter at the park, and then the grandpa left. Now, I thought this was bizarre for several reasons:

1. The mom and I had a fairly lenghty discussion on how she has the same rules as us, no going with people she doesn't know well, so not only does the mom drop her off with a complete stranger, but she has her dad do it!

2. Why on earth would you not call and let someone know you had an appt. and would it be okay for your dad to drop her off?

Maybe it's just me, but I would never not tell someone that I can't make it, send my dad in my place, and drop my child off when it was supposed to be both moms, both daughters and our sons for a picnic lunch at the park.

I've never been put into a situation like that before. I am sure the mom has a very good reason for her appt., but again, people are only a phone call away- I guess in my mind it's just proper ettiquette. Oh well, at least the girls had a good time. And Owen had a good time following them around. Even I had a good time because I brought my Country Living and Better Homes and Garden magazines with me "just in case". Can I take a moment to say how old I feel when the above magazines are my reading of choice? I remember being a little girl and flipping through those same magazines of my mom's and thinking how lame they were!