Birthday and Shriners

I had a birthday, shout hooray! In case turning 30 (yikes!) and finding two (count'em two!) white hairs wasn't enough to plunge me into a third-of-a-life crisis, Yogurl turned on a Pandora station she thought I would like. It played such happy birthday tunes as "Cat's in the Cradle" and "Dust in the Wind." 

I found the Avengers Happy Birthday Balloon at my locker after my classes along with a birthday card and a dandelion that Sabrina had picked for me. It was a very nice birthday surprise. I attached the balloon to the rack of my bike, so it trailed behind me the whole way home. That way the whole world could see that it was my birthday and somebody loved me. Or that I am a real dork. 

Both are true.

 We went to the Dogwood Parade downtown, and it was really packed. We were thinking of leaving after a little while, but Sabrina wanted to stay. Then somebody sitting nearby told us we had to stick around at least for the Shriners. He was right! How cool are those cars!

One of my favorite books to read to the kids is called Rattletrap Car. The Shriners had a rattletrap car in addition to their mini vehicles! I hope the guy in that car doesn't plan on using his seat for anything other than sitting. Then again, people were cleaning up after the horses anyway...

 Sabrina really enjoyed the parade. Until a clown came up and asked her if she was a clown. With a look of horror she shook her head "no." I wonder who likes clowns?

 Well we weren't the only ones downtown for the parade. The parking garage had an exit lane that wasn't working, so it was moving unreasonably slowly. We had bought lunch so we sat in the back of our car and ate. The cars behind us waiting in line probably moved 20 feet during the 20 minutes or so we were eating. So we went back down and talked for a while to one of our friends who was working downtown. Then we came back and tried to drive away. It took over half an hour to get from the third floor to the second. Then it started moving quickly, and it turned out the police had come and were directing people out without paying. Hooray for speeding things up and not paying, but I hope there wasn't some emergency on a higher level (like the extreme frustration causing a heart attack) and that was why they were clearing people out. 

Sabrina has always been excited to help in the kitchen, but now that she made a chef's hat at school. she is even more excited. The hat was part of a healthy eating unit at her pre-school. The unit included eating ants on a log made with cream cheese instead of peanut butter, and making pepperoni pizza on hamburger buns. 

Well, whatever.