The first and most important wish of every new year is to say Happy Birthday to my No. 1! As she begins a new decade of life I am so proud and excited for Laurent, for all she’s accomplished already, and for her many plans for the future. What a dynamo she is!
Our New Year’s Eve celebration was unplanned and chaotic and a little bit of everything. Along with gaming and movie watching, people were in and out of the kitchen cooking all evening. Xavier made fried chicken from scratch. Natalie made cookies using the chocolate from Christmas Stocking Toblerone bars. There were a variety of chips, pizza pockets, punch made with Sprite and Cranberry-Mango/Pineapple/Strawberry juices, strawberries and oranges, nuts, a pineapple upside-down cake, and plenty of French Bread for those who wanted to make something of it. Everybody was up well past midnight, with the warning that all were expected to attend 9am mass in the morning with bright shiny faces no matter how ridiculous their sleep schedule had been.
On New Years morning we were blessed to fill a long pew with 11 of us, and lucky we got there early enough to all sit together, as the church was full to celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.
After mass we hit McDonalds for an early lunch, and then went to explore at Cave Creek Park – Thunderbird. We’ve never been there before. It is two miles long and has various trails and play areas. We didn’t go far, since I had to use the wheelchair, but we parked near a playground and the kids got some fresh air and Vitamin D to start the new year, and I captured some of the fun. Many thanks to Paul carrying my gear bag and for pushing me up and down the long ramp to get from the parking area down and across the gully and up to the playground, and around in circles while I took photos.
