Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my dad's 70th birthday! An exciting and big day! Hope you have had a great one, Dad!
Last night, at one of my fundraiser meetings, I spoke to the mother of one of Quincy's friends. Bryn and her parents lived in France from 2004 until 2006, very close to the city in which we lived. When Bryn returned to school in the U.S., she was a 6th grader and did not want anyone to know that she had lived in France or could speak French. She did not want to be perceived as "different" in any way so she refused to acknowledge her experiences. Bryn's mother has always been very upset by this and has been afraid that she will lose her French. Since our return, Quincy and Bryn have become good friends and now often speak in French to each other. Bryn has come out of her shell and now speaks freely of her experiences. Her mother is thrilled and attributes all the credit to Quincy. She was just gushing about how "wonderful" Quincy has been for her.
My French club has become a bit overwhelming... I need to continue to tweak my plans, in the hopes of making it more fun and less work for ME! The kids all seem to be enjoying it but with 53 kids in the group, it is a lot of organizing, distracting and straining my voice to be heard. I split the group into two this week but it's still pretty unwieldy. It's hard to keep everyone engaged when there are so many. Everyone has learned to count to 10, say "hello" and "how are you", say the alphabet, and say one word for each letter of the alphabet. Whew... I'll keep working at it!
Max was one of five ball boys at the high school varsity soccer game tonight. He had a great time despite the cold and rain. He was thrilled when given a bottle of Gatorade and a bag of popcorn as his reward.

We have a heron that lives on the lake behind us. Everyone once in awhile, I can catch it in flight but it usually likes to rest on our neighbor's boat dock.