Hayden Bissell Birthday Saturday, Cool and Partly Cloudy

6:46

Fry Masters

Cutting, Soaking, and Drying potatoes

Making the Cookie Cake for Hayden's eleventh birthday

Yum, Cookie Batter

Up at 6:25, to a partly cloudy sky, off to the east, some sunlight, a thick cloud bank off over Bemus, and very cool, around 57 degrees, a fall like morning.  We had a heavy rain yesterday, about 3/10ths of an inch in a brief downpour.  Today, it will be cooler, a possibility of rain.

We spent yesterday getting ready for Jill and Drew and Hayden's eleventh birthday.  The weather was rainy in the morning, but cleared up in late afternoon, really cooling of the day, so that we needed fleece by early evening and we ate inside for the first time in almost three weeks.

The highlight of day was kayaking with the girls, getting down to the reeds, as it began to rain, then coming back to Woodlawn, paddling in the rain, then coming in to swim as it rained.  The girls loved swimming in the rain, of course, and we stayed in for a good half hour.  Because it cooled off, we did not go in later in the day.

Evie and the girls also did a lot of cooking, as Hayden wanted a special cake, something called a cookie cake, so the three of them put it together in the afternoon.  Then, because it was almost her birthday, Evie made home made french fries.  Hayden and Halle helped cut them up, soak them in water, dry them off, then fry them on our back porch, just in time for dinner, of tilapia and salad.  The girls liked the french fries, the fish not so much.  C'est la vie.

Just got an email that my grandson, Nicolas, made the Lee Summit junior varsity soccer team as a freshmen, quite an accomplishment.  He had been training most of the summer, getting up sometimes by 5:00, to run before it got too hot in Kansas City.  It is nice to see hard work and perseverance pay off.

Drew and Jill, and their dog, Coco came in last night around 12:00, after a 7 hour drive from Bristow, VA.  Coco and Hayden just got up, around 7:00, so now we have a dog for a day, a cute one at that, who spent the week here in February when the Bissell's came out for a winter week.