Sunny & Warm First Day of Spring

I slept well through the night waking for good around 745am and feeling great. I slipped out of bed and headed downstairs being careful not to wake the kids, or even Mindy for that matter. I was happy to see nothing but clear skies overhead and a temperature already near 40 degrees. Just a couple of days ago, Saturday’s forecast called for rain and temperatures struggling to get out of the low 40s. This being the first day of Spring, I was happy to see a much improved forecast. Now they’re saying mid 60s and partly sunny. Bella and Olivia joined me downstairs around 830am. I got them settled with donuts and juice. Mindy’s cell rang sometime near 845am. It was her friend Teri N. I knew that Mindy would want to take the call. I carried her phone up to our room, woke, and then handed it to Mindy. Mindy came downstairs a few minutes later to fetch coffee. She and Teri were going to meet for breakfast as long as I didn’t mind. I didn’t. Mindy hurried off to the shower. It didn’t dawn on me until a few minutes later that I’d have to defer my run until her return. Had we discussed it further, I would’ve run while she showered. No biggie. Best guess, Mindy left the house around 930am to meet Teri. Instead of going directly to the grocery after, she agreed to return home so I could run. The kids asked me to play my guitar. Bella got hers out too and started strumming and singing. She told me she just made up some words. I was totally impressed as much with the lyrics as I was with her little raspy voice. Very cute! I encouraged her to keep playing and to write her own songs. Soon she was penciling some lyrics on a sheet of paper. She kept it up until Jacob said some disparaging things about her lack of talent. Not very nice, Jacob! Meanwhile, it was shaping up to be a lovely day – sunny and 60 by 11am. Jacob & Bella headed outside to play with friends. A little later, I got Olivia dressed and sent her out, too. She was excited to get to play with the big kids. Mindy got home around 1130am. I was already in my running clothes and wasted little time heading out. I made sure she had an eye on Olivia before I dashed off. My right calf started to spasm again during my run. Dammit! And it only got worse throughout the run. Because of that, I pulled my run back to 3 miles. The kids were inside having hot dogs for lunch when I returned. They looked and smelt terrific, so much so that I made one for myself. The kids and I headed back outside to play. Jacob and I tossed the football for a little while with Olivia playing some too. She eventually asked if I would push her on the tree swing. Of course. Soon Bella and Emily came over to swing, too. Mindy was getting ready to go grocery shopping. She agreed to run Olivia home on her way. She came outside once she was ready. We hung out on the stone patio for a few minutes while Bella and Olivia tossed empty walnut husks into the pond. Olivia flipped out when a batch of ants quickly vacated one of the walnut shells she found and crawled all over her. She was officially done! Mindy & Olivia headed out. While they were gone I did some reading, relaxing, and napping. I thought about doing some yard work but nixed the idea in favor of an easy, carefree afternoon. Jacob asked me to get his bike down. A few minutes later I followed through and got it down from the garage ceiling and added a little air in the tires. Jacob was quite pleased. Bella wanted hers down too. I did the same for her. Five minutes hadn’t passed when Jacob came wheeling his bike back into the garage. I asked if he was kidding. Bella, on the other hand, was determined to ride on. Jacob, after hearing that Bella was going to continue riding, changed his tune and kept riding as well. While they rode bikes, I headed out back to hit some golf balls with my sand wedge. Probably near 3pm I headed back inside to do some more reading and napping. As usual, as soon as I was about to drift off, Mindy returned with her groceries. Just my luck. I made a quick return to the chair for more reading and a nap after helping Mindy. I verified the time she anticipated leaving for Rene’s birthday gathering at Barley’s. Mindy said around 7pm. While I napped, she walked down to Chrissy’s, who was having a family gathering. I headed up for a much needed shower around 530pm. While showering, Mindy let me know that she was running to Giant Eagle to fetch a bottle of wine for Rene. OK, but why don't you drive? :) After my shower, I spent the next hour or so writing in my blog. When Mindy got back she saw to it that Jacob got a shower. I overheard him giving his mother a hard time about what she wanted him to wear to dinner. Like most 10 year olds, he has no instinctual desire to look groomed. I was an exception at that age. Given the opportunity, I would spend an hour in front of the mirror primping and grooming. In fact, it wasn't uncommon for me to come to the dinner table in a tie. By the way, Bella opted to stay back at Chrissy’s in lieu of going to Rene’s b-day gathering. She loves hanging out with Makayla. We left for Barley’s a little after 7pm. Mindy knew that Rene and company wouldn’t be along until sometime around 8pm, but she wanted to eat dinner before hand. She and Jacob took a two-seat table just away from the bar. I took one of the few available bar stools almost within in arms reach. Unfortunately, they were out of the Green Flash already. I opted for a Troeg’s Nugget Nectar instead. It was quite good. We ordered food, me a Cuban. While waiting on my food, I watched the Kansas/Northern Iowa game intently. As it was, Kansas trailed and risked being eliminated from the NCAA tournament. They eventually lost. Oh, and my Cuban was outstanding. Rene arrived around 8pm with a new date, Ryan. She and Mindy chatted for a while about school stuff. Over the next 30 minutes or so a handful of Rene’s friends showed up to help her celebrate her 29th b-day. We stayed at Barley’s until 945pm. Jacob was having a dandy time hanging out with us. Rene’s friend Shane exchanged phone numbers with Beth, perhaps our dearest Barley’s server. They’d be a good pair. I ordered a growler of IPA for the road then picked up our tab. We were home just long enough to pour a beer then we headed down to Chrissy’s to fetch Bella. We hung out for a while listening to the details surrounding the conversation Chrissy had with Kenny’s ex the night before. Mindy gave me the times up signal two or three times. It had to be near 1100pm when we all headed for home. Bella complained of being hungry. We popped some popcorn and all of us shared it while chilling on the sofa. I told Mindy that I was gonna stay up and watch SNL. I didn’t make it past the intro. I woke at 1am and headed for bed.