Happy Birthday to me
I live in a tree
I feel like a raisin
But at least I’m not thirty-three

Wow, that really makes no sense at all, now does it.
See it’s not supposed to be sung to one’s self. When sung to others,
you get the supreme joy of singing it like this:

Happy Birthday to you
You live in a zoo.
You look like an orangutan
And you act like one too

Or you could just call your friends early in the morning on their birthday and sing the song to their
answering machine in your best Marilyn Monroe voice like I do. This works particularly well if the friend you sing
it to is two weeks older than you, which means that they will forever
be known as “old and decrepit” in contrast to your eternal
youthfulness. On the downside to this approach is that it does tend to
make you mildly unpopular…. Ah well. Popularity is grossly overrated
anyway.

So that was all the excruciatingly long way of
bragging that my birthday is today (except apparently people over 29
don’t normally brag about their birthdays). I’m thirty-two (let’s see,
born in 1975, yep I’m 32!). Wow, whoopie. Do I get a medal for
miraculously managing to live through thirty-two danger free years?

Somehow birthdays themselves seem like an odd thing
to celebrate. It’s not like it took any supreme effort, rigorous
studying, or massive skill to make it to this age. On the plus side,
hello, presents!!! And parents and buddies who seem to view
this as an excuse to get together and go out to eat at yummy places
(like a Brazilian restaurant and a fondue place) and go shopping.
That’s better than a medal any day, and plus you don’t have to polish
anything. Hurray!

Actually, I managed to actually do none of that today. I went shopping by myself (Wal-Mart, Winco, Gymboree, Bath and Body Works), tried out a new dinner recipe that came out great, and bamboozled my parents into coming over and eating it with us and then hanging around to play cards. George and I are going out Friday, I think, and Mom & Dad are taking us to Brazil Grill with Jonathan and Joanna next week. My bud Amy is picking me up tomorrow for lunch at Gustav’s (mmmmm, fondue….) and large amounts of bumming around. Then our first softball game of the season is tomorrow night. Hurray! I’m so excited!!!

In other news, camp last week was great. I played
like a maniac and was a total zombie for the first three days of this
week, but it was absolutely worth it. Two afternoons of softball, one of volleyball, lots of twittering around on the beach burning my shoulders (the ones that are now peeling), and monster quantities of Dutch Blitz until wayyyyy too late at night (technically the wee morning hours). Hmph! Isn’t that the entire purpose of coffee?

The kids had a great time, and Handsome Hubby made
a nifty little video vignette with Georgie when he wasn’t busy playing volleyball, golf, or puttering around himself. As soon as he gets it online,
I’ll post a link to it. That seemed to keep them both entertained for a
couple days.

This was the first year the older two kids were allowed to bop around camp more or less on their own, and they both did excellent. Georgie got a walkie talkie and was perfect about keeping track of it and answering right away when called. Trinity got one too, but after losing it the first day (we found it later that night) she decided she didn’t want it anymore (we weren’t too unhappy…).

It turned out to not be too big of a deal because the big camp bell rings ten minutes before each meal and each chapel. She made it to every meal and chapel on time without anyone ever having to track her down, and every time we checked on her she was doodling about with the other little girls at camp. She and Georgie were both old enough this year to go to the softball and basketball clinics, and Trinity particularly did well at both.

The guy who ran the basketball one said she did the best of all the kids that were there (there were three other little boys there including Georgie). Trini spent the rest of the week asking when she was going to play basketball again. That child is a pretty natural athlete! I really enjoyed watching her and Georgie doing the sports activities. Anika will be old enough next year, and I think she’ll like that. She handled not being able to participate extremely well though. I was quite proud of her. They had activities for the younger kids too, and she did all those so that took the sting out of it.

The weather was ridiculously nice for the Oregon coast. I don’t remember being to such a gorgeous Family Camp (usually it’s rain with drizzle and more rain), although everyone claims that there was a nice one seven or eight years ago. That would be either the first one we went to when Georgie was a baby or the one we missed because I was almost nine months pregnant with Trinity.

Well, I’m off to bed. Big day tomorrow and my throat is a bit sore, which is NOT COOL! That better go away overnight (**growl, growl, other threatening noises**).

Ciao!

Rachel

Written by Rachel Shubin ~ Fiendish friend for effusive fun!