The End of Birthday Season

All of the winter birthdays in our Ann Arbor family branch are complete - we had two last week and one the week before. M had a birthday party with some of his friends, and we hired Gordo the Magician to do a show for them. It was a lot of fun. All of the kids had seen most of his tricks before, but they were still amazed at most of them. Some kids tried to guess what was happening ("there's a hidden pocket!") but then Gordo would show them there was no hidden pocket and the kids would ooh and ahh.

All of us and Laurie went to The Real Seafood Company for dinner on Friday. Because it was J and Laurie's birthday, we got a pretty deep discount on our meals. The food was excellent - J and I went there years ago, and were not very impressed. We hadn't been back again until Friday, and we really enjoyed it.

M had his first flag football practice yesterday. He is playing for the same coach as last year. The coach is an assistant football coach at Jackson High, and he's great with the kids. They competed in the championship game last year, and are looking forward to doing it again.

In my quest for more fresh air, I went out jogging around the neighborhood yesterday. It was about 20 degrees and a little breezy; that's definitely the coldest weather I've ever run in. I was cold for most of it (especially my neck!) but it felt good, and I didn't slip on any ice. There are a lot of sidewalks that haven't been shoveled around here, so it wasn't the easiest run I've taken, but it worked out well. I wanted to go out again this morning, but a light rain/snow from yesterday coated the sidewalks, so I decided to stay in. That won't stop the hardcore runners who never miss a day, but it's enough to stop me.

The battleship USS Arizona model I've been working on is almost complete. I put the decals on yesterday and will try to finish it up this weekend. M is still working on his PT boat, and hasn't had as many chances to work on it that I thought he would. But he's busy with lots of things, so he has a good reason. His next model is going to be an airplane, which he's excited about, but he knows he can't start that one until the PT boat is done.

We're getting some sun here today, and I hope you are too.