Claire - Yesterday was Claire's 10th birthday. It's hard to believe it's been 10 years and that 10 years from now she'll be wrapping up her teen years. Claire will been done with high school. Abby will be a senior. The twins will likely be freshmen. Timothy in seventh grade. Yikes! Must enjoy them while they enjoy simple bike rides down the street. Must savor them while popsicles light up their eyes. Must enjoy the boys while the only things they break are lamps and such — not cars! Even now I can hear them just getting downstairs and turning on The Wiggles. Before long they'll be begging to watch ... well, I don't want to think about it now.
Claire's prayer last night thanked God for an awesome day. It was. At her request I joined her and Abby in the morning for a round of Mario Party 5. I haven't played Nintendo with her in ages. Nintendo tends to be just something Michelle and I join the kids in winter during cabin fever. Later Claire and Abby went to gymnastics. When I went to pick them up we got a big order of balloons and I bought them Kiddie Coolattas. Later Claire had five good friends come over to celebrate with her. They decorated cupcakes and their goodie bags. They played outside for a while but later I took them candlepin bowling. After beating a pinata, they had pizza and opened presents. Around twilight Claire came along as I drove the two further away friends home. Before bed she and I watched a little more of The Happiest Millionaire. It's a little like Mary Poppins in style and length — nearly three hours! — but we're enjoying it. It's typical Disney of that late 60's era.
Today - While yesterday was overcast with on and off sprinkles, today should be clearing up and allow Michelle and I to catch up on some belated yard work. Local weather guy, Josh Judge, says:
Ophelia is gone, speeding to the northeast. The good news is that she stayed on the projected track, therefore all the worst rainfall, storm surge, and winds stayed out over the open Atlantic as well! Our weather will slowly be improving now...
Thanks to assistance from Will, I got Claire and Abby's Trading Post picture scanned in. You can see Claire's recent post updated with it.