The coolest birthday ever

My flight is not till 9pm. I'm at a Panera Bread (free Wifi!) where I had a late lunch and started to catch up on a bunch of things that were on the back burner ... one of which was that I'd meant to post a photo from S1's birthday party.

S1 and M. share a birthday. For the last few years, they've had a joint party, invited all their friends and arranged a book swap instead of birthday gifts.

M.'s dad has a student playing on the university's hockey team. The kid introduced us to the team's coach who essentially planned a party around the hockey game. We had an ice-skating session for all the kids before the game, then they got to sit in a box and cheer the hockey team. Being mostly boys, they lived for the fights and the goals. And at half-time, the two birthday boys got to ride the zamboni, waving to the crowd: Can you imagine anything cooler than that as a six-year old?