henry's busy day

Henry had a busy day yesterday. It started with his last swimming lesson of the summer. His teacher had him jump off the diving board (with some help from another lifeguard). She caught him in the water, but I didn't get a shot of him like that, unfortunately. This is the second of 2 jumps he did. What a brave boy!

Then they got to do down the waterslides. As you might notice in the following photo, Henry has exited the slide in reverse. Again, Nikki caught him at the end. This was his only slide attempt. Good job for trying! And, after it was all over, popsicles for everyone!

Then, we drove to Orlando to visit with my third oldest friend, Andrea, on her 29th birthday. Andrea and I go way back to the fall of 1996. She was one of the first people I met at college. We've been through some stuff together, and she's always been good to me. Like when I was having a hard time my senior year and she let me sleep a bunch of nights on "the hideaway bed" in her dorm room (it was a second mattress she kept under her bed). We'd fall asleep, night after night, watching either Tarzan or Cinderella (starring Brandy, TV's Moesha) and things were all better. It was a nice time, with simple joys. She was my bridesmaid at my wedding who wore the 2 left shoes. I served as gatekeeper before her wedding, when people were annoying her and stressing her out with drama, she just wanted to hide in the dressing room. I tried my best to shoo them away, in the nicest possible manner. Anyhoo, yesterday was her birthday, and I carved her a watermelon that looked like this:

And then we all went out to dinner at The Melting Pot, and we had fun fondue-ing bread and meat and fruit. It was lovely. Henry got to entertain some folks at the bar while we waited - birthday girl Andrea is on the right.

And here's everyone after dinner. In the back row, in the middle, with the striped shirt, is Jed. He is another friend Andrea and I made in our freshman year. He was a little different then. Weren't we all? But we still love him and it's nice to have the old gang back together.

Tonight, Andrea and her husband Frank (in the front, with the white shirt) will be in line at midnight to get their hands on the new Harry Potter book. How exciting! I'll be waiting until tomorrow morning after praise band practice to go get mine. But I am really looking forward to reading it. All in all, it was a perfectly lovely 24 hours. Have a good weekend!