Look Who's Two!

Clare's birthday request: to go "inging" in the park.

Clare loves puppies, real or otherwise.  She's got three favorite stuffed puppies: this lab, a soft floppy brown one, and a Beanie Baby chihuahua. Today she chose the lab to come to the park with us.  Molly came too, and wore down her nails by fetching tennis balls on the cement ice rink.

We'll see if I get around to posting more later, after birthday cake, etc.  We're just having a small party here tonight and hopefully will have a slightly larger one later when both my mom and dad and hopefully a few others might be able to join us.

Matt didn't get to join us at the park today because he and his Marine Robotics students are having a Saturday work session to complete two Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs) that his students designed.  On Tuesday, he's taking the whole class to Isle Royale, where they'll instruct the park rangers how to use the submersible robots, which the rangers will use during the summer to search for zebra mussels on the Island.  His Marine Robotics class never ceases to amaze me with the things the students are able to do and produce, such as write code that is usually only taught at the college level and design and test waterproof parts.  I'm envious that he's going to Isle Royale, my absolute favorite place on Earth, but I wouldn't have made a good chaperone while looking after a two year old.