Halloween and Happy Birthday

I was up early, probably because we went to bed so early, and met my friend Emily for a yoga class at 8 AM, a good time to get moving and start the day right. I was hoping to join her and Nathan for a bike ride for the first 'Cyclovia', which was a chance to ride bikes up and down Roland Avenue, which would be closed to car traffic for the morning. Instead, I met Maya and the Benichous at the Farmer's market downtown. We wandered through the stalls and chose vegetables to buy and snacked on muffins and smoothies. It was too late to ride when we were done, and Maya had a session with her accompanist Jake at Peabody at noon and a soccer game at 1 :30. I find her soccer games painful to watch because the girls have not been coached well, and are incapable of being effective in their play. They play a defensive game and are scored against many times a game. It is frustrating that in all these weeks they have yet to learn how to throw in the ball from the sidelines, or strategize or dribble the ball. I want to tell the coach to do his job, but I say nothing and just cringe. Thankfully, the season is almost over.

Halloween turned out to be a party for Julien. His birthday is on Wednesday next week. The family came over at 5, Belina and Daphne and Marius in their costumes and ready for trick or treating. We joined another friend of Maya's (Emily) with her parents Deb and Mike and while Eric and Julien stayed home to give away candy, the rest of us walked over to Roger's Forge where almost every house is lit up and giving away candy, and the children ran around in excitement. Marius was a ghost, Belina a pink and black witch, Emily an Iron woman, Daphne a dark witch, Maya a sexy witch and I was a Vampire princess. We all gathered at our house for dessert and Happy Birthday songs, and the children sat on the stairs and emptied out their candy bags, counted their hauls, traded and gave away what they did not want, and amazingly, they were so tired, we were able to get everyone out of the house and Maya in bed by 9. Whew, what a day.