It's Fine to be Nine and Chile

Hola!

Frank returned from his last trip, yippee! He has been in Chile and Argentina for 9 days. He's hiring a manager down there so he'll be going back to interview possible candidates, again next month. Anyway it's SO nice to have him here.

Last week was Kara's birthday--NINE, can you believe it! Sometimes other people's kids stay young in your mind, because you don't see them much. I still have her pegged at 5 or 6 years old, and I LIVE with her! Something about how adorable kids are in kindergarten, I guess, and I wanted her to stay in that grade! (She still brightens my day. She's just bigger now.)

We had a fun afternoon with some of her friends from school, playing goofy relay games outside. Run with a balloon between your elbows and sit on it to pop it...













keep an M&M on the end of a straw, run with it and drop it in the bowl at the other end of the deck...








balloon volleyball...

It was a beautiful afternoon, but don't be fooled by the sunshine. It was still super cold! The kids look outside at a sunny day, and think they can put on their swimsuits. It's only 40 degrees, for Pete's sake! One of the games was an egg toss, and the plastic Easter eggs we used had water in them. "Can we have a water fight?" one of the girls asks. I'm standing in the sun, shivering, and she wants a water fight...sigh... Then we piled into cars to go to "Plaster Fun Time," where the girls could choose ceramics and paint them. Here is Kara:

and also Teresa and Frank concentrating on Teresa's cobra:

Kara has a talent for getting along with a lot of different kinds of people. She also notices when someone is sad, and tries to make them happy.

She's an example to me, of what kind of a friend I should be.

It is FINE to be NINE!