Saturday was the party. We invited family and friends and had a pot luck of hors d’oeuvres and desserts that the guests brought.
CDF made the delicious cakes: raspberry cheesecake and a spice cake with cream cheese frosting. Other people brought things such as meatballs, quiche (my Mom), a fruit bowl (Dom and Amber), fruit kabobs (Heidi), cookies (Roy), etc.
Even though it rained all day Friday we still had a good time at the Museum of Science. CDF took most of the pictures as we walked around the exhibits.
We started at the top floor and worked our way through the exhibits. MDF liked the dinosaurs the best I think, but we also had fun with the other nature exhibits.
CEF was just happy to wander around and investigate whatever caught her interest — which seemed to be doors most of the time.
A hallway outside the woodlands exhibit had some wall murals that make a nice backdrop for pictures. The exhibit itself was interesting, with stuffed animals displayed in their habitat. I liked the one with a weasel that had caught a mouse.
No, I don’t feel much older. In some ways I can recognize where I’ve grown older — matured to put it another way. But otherwise I really still feel as young as I always have.
I took the day off to go to Raleigh with the girls, where we had planned on hiking in Umstead Park. But instead it rained all day (which we did need), so we went downtown to the museum of science. We had a good time looking at insects, dinosaurs, and other animals. After the museum we went to Olive Garden for lunch.
We packed up most of CEF’s bottles last week and gave them to CDF’s sister to use. There was a sense of finality there: our baby was moving on, but also relief: no more washing day-old bottles. So my feelings are mixed. But one thought that has stuck with me is when they grow we experience new things and we don’t need to hold on to the past because what is next is good too.
As an amusing aside, emptying the dishwasher puts me in a thoughtful mood — a lot like mowing used to do. Don’t know why that is. 🙂
Tonight as we were getting MDF ready for bed, she had to have a bandaid put on her leg. While CDF put it on they talked about when she used to be a nurse. Later MDF told me about it.
“Dad, did you know that Mama used to be a nurse?”
“Yes, I did.”
Looking thoughful, she asked, “Did you used to be a doctor?”
I laughed, and said I have always worked on computers.
“She’s not a nurse any more,” MDF continued, “now she’s just a mama.”
Today for MDF’s birthday CDF and I took her to Wilmington as a special thing for just the three of us. We went to Greenfield Lake to walk around, play at the play ground and “hunt for alligators.” We actually saw an alligator when we went over the big footbridge on the north side of the lake.
After the park we went to Chic-fil-A for lunch. MDF played in their play zone too. Then when lunch was over we went back across Market Street to Walmart and let her pick out something to buy as a birthday surprise. From Walmart we went over to Cold Stone Creamery and got ice cream. MDF picked strawberry ice cream with M&M’s on the top. CDF got cheesecake with Snicker’s bars mixed in.
Then after we got home, and MDF had a short rest time, she and I went for a bike ride on her new bike! She did great — exept for when she almost crashed head first into a big ditch, before she learned about brakes. Later this afternoon we went back out on the street, this time I pushed CEF in the stroller, and she rode without incident, having learned how to work the brakes.
