We recently joined our local rec center and went for the first time yesterday. It was so much fun except that John couldn't go because he had a migraine. Samantha and I swam in the pool and just had the best time exploring all the things to do there. Next we totally want to try climbing the rock wall! There was no one in the pool but us so we were able to be totally silly. Samantha slid down the little kids frog slide and I attempted diving off the diving board. Sadly Samantha looked much cuter on the slide than I did diving!

Yesterday was my Daddy's 78th Birthday. We gave him some new books and Mom gave him his watch back. I guess that's how you would describe it. In 1953 he bought an Omega watch in Sweden that Mom recently found not working in a box of stuff. So, she took it to be repaired for his Birthday and he loved it!

Lately I have noticed a disturbing trend: the older my parents get the more "stuff" they are clearing out of their house. They have lived in the same house in the country for the past 47 or so years so it is packed with stuff and probably needs cleaned out but I can't help finding it a bit sad. Mom calls frequently and asks if I want this or that and says she will put my name on it. I am an only child so I get it all and I am sure when I go through things in the future and find my name on them I will wonder what was I thinking. And, every time we go home to visit we get loaded up with so much stuff, most of it junk. We cleaned our storage area in the basement and I couldn't remember why I had brought back half of the things I found: a deer antler, a rock, a broken necklace, a jar of sand... Oy!