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First full family day in Fair Oaks! Yesterday was my daughter's birthday. Daughter and grandkid are in a wedding tomorrow. They had a rehearsal dinner last night. Today my daughter was getting her nails done and other pre-wedding activities. My ex-wife (daughter's mother) arrived today to take care of grandkid and prepare a small birthday dinner. I volunteered to take the grandkid's wedding dress (she's a flower girl) to have it steamed and pressed. To do so, I drove to Roseville (the most I've driven since I've been here) and conquered the shopping mall maze to have the dress processed. When I asked the clerk how long it would take to have the garment prepared she said "two weeks." I pointed out that the wedding was tomorrow. She made arrangements to get it done within the hour. I went to a nearby cafe and had an OK sandwich--nothing special which underlines my belief that one should never eat in a shopping mall--especially a mall as big as this one: it is huge!

Came back and napped out for a bit, and grabbed green tea latte to boost my energy level. I then began an extended time reading to, puzzling with, and playing with the grandkid.  She is a handful--more like truckload full! She is really creative, has non-stop energy, and seems to be smarter than hell! The other night, I read her a book that she had never seen or that had been read to her. We made a pass through the book and then she "read" it back to me. She paraphrased or spoke the story words almost exactly as they were written. She wasn't reading the words--she was playing them back from memory--an eidetic aural feat as far as I'm concerned. She'll be reading in no time! She'll be five next February!

I was worn to a frazzle when we stopped so she could take a bath before dinner. Dinner was an interesting event. It was to honor my daughter and wish her a happy birthday. It was attended by her grandmother, her mother, her father (me) and her child (my granddaughter). We had four generations of people sitting there--pretty awesome!

When dinner was concluded and the dishes/kitchen put to order, I was blitzed! I was asked if I wanted to play gin rummy, and I declined. I needed to sit quiet for a spell. My being was processing a lot of things. It's early but I seem to be fading though. More family reflections in the morrow!