Birthdays, albums, Amtrak, and... so, so tired and wanting to sleep and things and stuff.

What a loooong day.  It was my brother's birthday!

I woke up at 7:something AM to a little boy asking me, "Uncle David, will you get up?"

I believe my first response was "No."  No one was offended.

But, over the course of the next half hour, as two four year olds decided to climb into bed on either side of me and ask me any number of questions to which they could immediately turn around and respond, "Why?", I eventually got myself out of bed.

Whew.

There was then coffee, oatmeal, and Eggo waffles.  There was then, shortly after, St. Thomas' Episcopal Church.

This was a new experience for me.  Wow.  Thems crazy in a good way.  Crazy fun, crazy open minded, crazy, and possessing of crazy good food, with a crazy good choir (of which Aleksandra is a member).  Whew.  Afterward, while Aleksandra went to the store, Chris, the boys, and I hung around the church playground for a bit.

A little while later there was cake baking and present wrapping.  The grandparents showed up around 2:30 PM, and we had a delicious lunch of potato/egg salad, actual salad, and garden burgers.  And some wine.

And a little while after that, there was cake.  Oh, was there cake.  And brownies.  I had my fill.  Then I had some tea.  Greatness.

Afterwards, Chris, Dad, Lucas, and I all went for a walk around East Rock.  We went all the way to the Eli Whitney museum and its associated waterfall.  It took about an hour and a half, and it was approximately 6:30 PM by the time we got back.

Mom and Dad left around 7:30 PM, or so, I think.  Maybe a little earlier.

Eventually, I had to get ready to get on my train back to Boston.  It was at 9:08 PM.  Supposedly.

Chris brought me to the station at an appropriate time (8:40 PM or so), and I discovered my train was 15 minutes delayed.  Supposedly.

So I waited a bit.

To my unending surprise, Amtrak didn't lie, and the train was actually about 15 minutes late.  Not half an hour late.  Not an hour late.  Not secretly canceled, but honest to goodness as late as they claimed it was.

I don't mind that.

The ride back to Boston was uneventful and pleasant.  A short trip on the Red Line from South Station brought me back to Porter.

Oh!  And whilst getting my brother a birthday present, I got a new Joanna Newsom album (or rather, triple-disc album), Have One On Me.  I listened to it on the train, but will need a few more listens to actually pick out any specific songs.

Oh, I'll just note that I didn't realize when I bought the album that the inside cover featured a bunch of photos of Ms. Newsom -  one for each CD and one for the liner notes - displaying a copious amount of leg, clad merely in some strange, short dress that's vaguely reminiscent of overalls (weird, but she's a weird one).  I can hardly complain, though; I am but a man.