Hayden's Tenth Birthday Celebration Yesterday

Hayden Opens her  Presents

Hayden Love Her Books

A Lime Green Pillow to Match Her Room

Hayden turned ten yesterday and it was her day, starting with crepes for breakfast, a excursion to the petting zoo at the campground, to home made fries and juicy lucy burgers for dinner, to a chocolate chip cookie cake after dinner.  In between, she played with her cousin, Marisa and sister Halle, swam, and enjoyed the fact that he Dad, Drew, had driven in from NYC for her birthday.  O, yes, we also played SPUD and Red Rover, at her request, at dusk, completing a great day for her.  She showed enormous patience, I thought, as she did not open her presents until after dinner, having to wait all day.  She is a great child to watch open presents, as no matter what the gift, she shows great excitement, whether ear rings, a book, or an ITouch cover.  It was a great day for her, and tomorrow, we have another great day, as Marisa kept reminding herself as Hayden opened her presents...Marisa's eighth birthday.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

This morning was a wonderful 57 degrees when I woke up, lots of sunshine, quiet, as it's almost 8:00 and Evie and Drew are the only other two up. A very quiet morning and week on the lake, with nary a boat out, just a lone paddle board.  It's a great morning for paddle boarding, as the lakes calm and glassy, with no wind to speak of.   Beth and Rami arrive later this evening, probably around 9:00, depending on what time Rami can get away from his office.  For the girls, it looks like another day at Midway Park, then wings at the Casino afterwards, at their request.  Not two of my favorite places but the kids like it, so off we will go.

Mitch and I have the no knead bread started, so we will make it today so his Dad can try it.  He's also got the frozen ice cream ready to deep fry for tomorrow night also, so his Dad can try it.  That boy sure idolizes his Dad.  And today, Mitch is going to make a peanut butter pie for after the wings, just what we need to wash down all that grease and perhaps an ice cream cone.  This peanut butter chocolate cake is for Mitch's Uncle Drew, a strong request.

We spent the afternoon outside, swimming, playing games, reading, and just relaxing, though I spent an hour or two going to the store for our final meal as a family tomorrow night.  We are grilling pizzas on the grill, one of my favorite ways to have pizza, as it's easy and really quite good if you have a pizza stone and a grill that gets quite hot.  Tonight, we are going to the Casino, having talked the girls out of the idea of going to Midway; we went tubing instead and just enjoyed being outside on a delightful day, about 76 high, though in the sun, it seemed really warm.