Every birthday of your firstborn is an anniversary of parenthood. Michael and I celebrated five years today. We were showered with the presence (and quite a few presents much to Lake’s delight) of friends and family who turned out in an enthusiastic herd for Lake’s 5th Birthday party at Gasworks Park—like lizards coming out of hibernation we basked in the gorgeous sunshine and equally warm glow of each other’s company. It was reminiscent of our last big pre-Covid era birthday— Lake’s Third Birthday. Today guests had “a blast!” and 46 donuts and most of an entire donut cake disappeared amongst the merriment. We thank all for Lake’s kind birthday wishes. It was incredibly meaningful to have a memorable event marking Lake turning five years old and heading to Kindergarten in the autumn. Thank you!

“Happy Birthday Lake!! We love being parents—and not just any parents… your parents! I could snug you forever, too.”

“Happy World Redhead Day!” our friend Clarence greeted us this morning along with a handful of fun facts. Apparently our particular colorway is the rarest hair/eye color combination in the world with an incidence of 0.17%; approximately 170 in 100,000 have red hair together with blue eyes. We’d be right at home in Scotland or Ireland which boasts the highest global concentration of redheads (13%, 10% respectively)… That’s where our red hair hails—from the Thomson’s and the Murphy’s.

We celebrate diversity and today it’s the uniqueness of red hair we honor. We love our shared gene mutation, but most of all we love our family and friends! A perfect day… I’m glad I spent it with you.

Lady Kitty is walking! Her prompt came when crawling was precluded by her hands being full. She’s definitely getting the hang of it. In fact, she’s already leveling up. She likes to practice walking down the stairs facing outward/forward (with help!). And all on her own, she likes to grab her coat and head for the door—ready for a proper walk!

In other developments, Lady Kitty has another tooth coming in–her tenth. Meanwhile, Lake lost his second tooth over last week, and has a birthday coming up next weekend! Thanks for tuning in for a quick update from A Perfect Day. Indeed, I’m forever glad I spent it with you.

Lady Kitty hiked up to Franklin Falls! It was very busy on the trail but she still found a spot to pause and eat some snow. The water was really rushing from Spring snowmelt—an avalanche had covered the area in late winter adding snowpack to the drainage making for extremely big waterfalls! Too big even to photograph!

Nana took us on this hike and kept a close eye on Lake as the edge of the trail is rather near the steep ledge and the rushing water. Nana had been Lakes au pair for the week while Madeline relaxed in Hawaii. Lake found this hilarious. “Nana is my au pair!”

Meanwhile Madeline felt the perks of the Covid thaw and enjoyed her traveling vacation! Yes even au pairs need a break and are due two weeks of vacation per year, though in our experience they’re always happy for more!

It’s fantastic and refreshing to get out and explore our beautiful and diverse planet!