Tonight, we gather for dinner and an evening of cards. Last weekend we calculated that tonight would be the last time that we would all be free for the foreseeable future. So we try to make dinner as memorable as possible.

Just before the kids’ swimming lessons this afternoon, Robin adopted a very casual attitude toward dinner. “Oh, I’ll just get started on the main course when we get back—everyone can snack on chips and crackers when they get here”. When we arrived home, the car had barely stopped when Robin threw open the car door and ran to the house, muttering “I can’t believe how late it is and how much I have to do!”

Robin manages just fine. Everyone was a little late in arriving due to Friday rush hour traffic, which was made that much worse by rain. When they did arrive, they had chips and crackers. A little while later we had some fantastic fried shrimp (fried food is always best served immediately, after all).

When dinner rolled around, everyone was nearly full, but the salmon wraps were so good that everyone found room.

We gave the kids baths, read books and put them to bed.

We played with MythTV rather a lot tonight. Dinner music was courtesy of MythMusic. After the kids went down, we watched Days of our Lives from yesterday at 1.4x speed. Pitch sounds the same, but it runs faster, making it bearable for the non-fans. Then we played Space Invaders on MythGame. Finally back to MythMusic for cards.

We played hearts since we were five people. Eric won. And by won, we mean lost—he was the first to break the 100 point barrier. His reward was some leftover birthday cake from Cold Stone.

Two quick games of Simpson’s Clue cap off the evening, then Sarah and Erin head out (they want to run at 8 in the morning). Eric stays to bring Olivia home in the morning. He and Chris watch South Park and Chappelle show before calling it an evening.

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