It feels like most families have this – you have a stretch of birthdays/celebrations within a few weeks time that feels like a marathon of food, cake, and gatherings. On my side of the family, that is the month of October. But on my wife’s side, that is the end of July into early August, which means we will be wrapping that up at the end of this weekend. Our household is ramping up for the cap off celebration with another birthday for our oldest, Natalie. We will be hosting our family this weekend at our home to celebrate. The theme for this year is unicorns – fortunately, my daughter thinks unicorns mainly eat pizza and bugs. We can have a solid meal on theme with pizza and gummy worms!
What also is one of the best parts of this birthday dash that has been happening now for the 9th year is my brother-in-law, Eddie, has been riding the Pan-Mass challenge (usually the first weekend in August). While this is quite an accomplishment on its own, his daughter/my niece decided to join him this year and do a 50-mile section of the ride this past Sunday. As a father with two girls, it really pulled at the heart strings as we watched them hit the halfway point at Gillette Stadium on Sunday morning. Natalie, Ashley and I went to show our support with signs and lots of cheering. Natalie also made sure to test a good portion of the snacks available for the riders. What she could not figure out is why they had pickle juice available for everyone… hard one to explain to an almost 4-year-old.
I look back with a full heart and full belly at all the fun photos and the many text strings saying ‘Happy Birthday’ to one another. The best way to share this joy is to simply share a few pictures over the past couple of weeks.
Until next time…
