Birds and Birthdays

Yesterday was Catherine's 7th birthday. We managed to get a half-year membership at a pool club in town, so we spent much of the day there yesterday, ending the day with Mexican food and homemade ice cream cake. (Actually, we've been spending much of every day there for the last two weeks.) Catherine, as you know from the blog, is a young lady of many talents. For example, she swims like a fish. Yesterday, as part of a swim lesson, she did 8 laps, alternating between freestyle and backstroke. She's working on her breaststroke. The club has a swim team that competes in July against other local clubs. We're pretty sure she'll be on it next year.

She's also quite the singer, with a soft spot in her heart for Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana. While she complains about it loudly, I know she loves that I know the words to many Miley/Hannah songs, and I impress her friends when I sing to them -- especially this one off Miley's new CD. (And all of U who luv Salena Gomez ova Miley, stop hatin!)

Catherine plans to be a star much like Hannah Montana some day. I've been helping with stage name suggestions. She rejected JoJo Idaho and Betty Connecticutty (Peter thought it sounded too much like a diner waitress), and went with her own creation: Morgan Oregon. Tom and Mary, you should feel honored.

Happy Birthday, Catherine.

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Last weekend, we finally managed to celebrate my mom's retirement officially with a trip to the Mystic Aquarium. Last summer, on a visit to Massachusetts, we all went to the New England Aquarium in Boston, and mom fell in love with the penguins, one in particular. The penguin exhibit there is very large (check out the still shot web cam), and there are a bunch of small sprinklers to keep the penguins cool. One penguin stood in front of one of the sprinklers for a good half hour, not letting any others come near it. It really cracked us up, especially mom.

So when mom retired, we signed her up for a "penguin encounter" at the Mystic Aquarium to share with her grandkids. It's an hour long. They learned about penguins from one of the penguin handlers, while one penguin walks around the room, nipping at them and "expelling" on the floor. But they also got to touch it and feel its heart beat. Here on the right is mom giving the penguin a little love.

Everyone seemed to enjoy it, especially John. Except for one part. When he sat down to pet the bird, it, well, "expelled" all over him. It had to be John, of course -- who else would have put up with penguin poop all over him? That's him to the left, holding up the paper towels he used to clean himself off with. The penguin's handler said she "never seen anything like it before."

So John's been having some serious bird adventures lately, neither of which has ended terribly positively. (But at least he's smiling in the picture.)

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And if you're still wondering why John feels so deeply for animals, take a few minutes to watch this.

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I know I'm expected to comment on the Manny Ramirez trade. I'll just say that it was time for him to go, and I think Jason Bay's bat will be adequate. While Bay hasn't been in the playoffs before, he also had the pressure of being the best hitter on a really lousy team, so maybe he'll settle in with Papi, Youk, Drew, and Lowell around him. I hope so, anyway.

The Boston Globe has a nice pictorial of Manny Being Manny.

If you don't follow any of this, don't worry about it. You don't live and die with the Red Sox, which is probably a good thing in the end.

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Finally, good luck to my brother as he pedals all those miles this weekend for the Pan Mass Challenge. You're awesome. Be sure to give us an update when you're all done.