Big Birthdays

There were two big bday celebrations this weekend.
Happy first to Tristan!
Happy thirtieth to Claudia!

Tristan is the cutie patootie son of Kelvin and Sarah. Kelvin was almost literally the boy next door in high school. He lived exactly a block away, and he used to invite me over to hang out. Apparently, his idea of hanging out back then was tricking me into helping him wash his car. Hmph. Kelvin's been a close friend for a long time, and he was always a goofy guy with a great, big smile, and now he's a daddy! Tristan couldn't be more adorable.

For Claude's big day, Tommy planned a surprise river rafting trip down the Middle Fork of the American River.

The first picture was this crazy thing called the tunnel chute. The company actually walked everyone out to see it before we rafted so that we could opt out. Everyone stuck with it, of course. The second picture is Tommy and Claude, a.k.a. "Clommy." And then their boat. The last picture is my boat "surfing," which meant that we rode and basically sat on a small wave in the river until our boat filled with water. The guys targeted me to be at the base, so the water was practically up to my neck. And it was CO-OLD!!! I'm a wimp when it comes to being chilly.

Even though I hate cold water, and sticking my head underwater is my Fear Factor thing, I had a ton of fun! And it was all worth it because Claude was so happy.