Happy birthday, Lise!

We had a fun evening a few days ago when granddaughter Lise celebrated her third birthday. Her older sister did a great job of letting Lise have the spotlight on her special day and her younger sister, well, she slept through most of it.

 Chocolate birthday cake and ice cream was a big hit.

 Baby sister woke up in time to take in some of the festivities.

 Lise seemed to enjoy the cards as much as the presents. Older sister was
ready to help with any hard words.

The highlight of the evening was the present of a play kitchen.
A game of "Restaurant" spontaneously broke out.

Music video

I spent way too much time putting together this video from the "Rockin' into the Night" session Tuesday night at the American Society of News Editors conference in Washington, D.C.

It features Sonny Curtis, an original Cricket and prolific songwriter, and Jim Peterik, whose first hit song was "Vehicle" by the Ides of March. Peterik also wrote hits for Survivor ("Eye of the Tiger") and .38 Special ("Hold on Loosely").

The video runs 5 minutes. Hope you enjoy it!

Mug shot

I used a vacation day Tuesday to work on a freelance project, which took me to Madison. After a day of interviews, I checked in with the Andy and Josie Family. Uncle G made a cameo appearance. Granddaughter Elsie, 22 months, was the star of the proceedings. I suspect she's had her photo taken before.

Swingers

 I don't recall ever installing the backyard play equipment before the official
arrival of spring. However, with record-setting warmth this week, all was made
ready today for a visit by our two oldest granddaughters.

 The slide is also a fun diversion.

 March Madness has nothing on an exciting game of tossing
a wadded-up piece of paper into an ice cream container.

Auto show outing

Madame X and I decided to take a brief Sunday outing and visit the Dubuque New Car Dealers Auto Show at the Grand River Center, and we invited the older two granddaughters to come along.

 Those are the granddaughters at left and right.

 The popcorn machine at the concession stand was out of order, but a soft pretzel
was an acceptable snack substitute.

This was the only BMW at the show Pop might be able to afford!

Super Super Bowl party!

The special guests at our Super Bowl get-together had never watched a football game before, and they were at home in bed by the finale, but we had a super time nonetheless!

Sage

Lise

Claire

Happy Lunar New Year

 Madame X and I on Saturday attended the Lunar New Year celebration at Divine Word College in Epworth, Iowa. Divine Word, primarily a seminary for missionary priests-to-be, has a large contingent of international students -- most of them from Asia.

We are members of the Divine Word FAN (Friends Across Nations) Club, matched with a couple of students -- Joseph from Uganda and Yen from Vietnam.

Though the celebration welcoming the Year of the Dragon is special for the Asian students, no Divine Word student was excluded. The program started with an African drums number, with our friend Joseph (far left, photo below) playing a key role. (He returned to this stage for another number, when this photo was taken.)

If was an enjoyable evening of great food and fun entertainment.