birthday & stuff

Raine's birthday is today. She is now nine. Funny how getting older brings nostalgia for those younger days. Like her first birthday when she toddled around with a big, cheesy grin on her face and enjoyed handfuls of cake... playing with them if not actually eating them... Digging up dinosaur bones for her archeology party. This year's party has a Star Wars theme, and we are trying to think up some Jedi challenges for the kids to complete. We were hoping to find pool noodles to make into light sabers (yes, I know its out of season... gah!) but no luck yet. I'm thinking some sort of obstacle course and a treasure hunt/Jedi rescue mission. Maybe a target shoot on the Death Star, or something. And lots of playing in the park, a little bit of pizza, and brownies with ice cream on top (dark side & light side). Fun I hope, but not too complex or spendy.

Trying to make a plan for summer vacation. Thinking about taking a train to North Carolina. A little more time spent in travel, but nice not to have to do the driving. Time to see some scenery, and play some games and read along the way. And no airports.

Still doing well with the bike riding. Hoping that reporting my efforts will help me continue them. Doing 20 minutes this week, and building up some muscle tone so that the 20 minutes is easier to sustain than the 15 of last week. Netflix helps in the not clock watching dept. Pretty pleased with myself that I'm still doing it. Yay, me!