Today Grandpa repaired a glass pane in our garage door that Max and his friend broke on Sunday. To fix that pane he had to go to a glass store and order it, which he did yesterday, because the pane was of custom size. He wanted to paint part of the door, too, but we didn’t have the paint.

Grandpa also went over our yard with his mower. I didn’t know the yard needed attention, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did. He also blew our driveway off, which is long and on a hill.

Later Max went down to Mimi and Grandpa’s and he and Grandpa went over to Max’s friend Nick’s to pick him up so he could play with Max. Grandpa supervised them for about five hours, pausing at one point to go get them dinner at Chick-fil-A. It’s 9:30 pm and Max is just getting home from going with Grandpa to take Nick home.

There’s probably more that Grandpa did that I’m unaware of. I just thought I ought to write this down.

Earlier this morning someone asked Max to name three wishes he’d make if he could have anything he wanted. He wished for:

1. Infinite money
2. Thomas the Tank Engine in his back yard
3. A water park

Right now his main interest is hypercars. He’s focused on Lamborghinis, Koenigseggs, and Bugattis. Maybe that’s his reason for his primary wish.

It’s been a big birthday weekend for all of us. On Friday evening we rented the outside pool at Collins Hill Aquatic Center for about twenty-four of Max’s friends and more than a handful of their parents to celebrate his eighth birthday with him. I believe everyone had a great time. It’s been extremely hot this summer, but heavy cloud cover gave us some much-needed relief. We gave Max a Pokémon-themed party, though I don’t believe anyone was interested in finding any Pokémon with a huge pool with a host of aquatic attractions all to themselves.

We enjoyed pizza from Costco and a Pokémon cupcake cake.

We partied to the backdrop of a Collins Hill High School football game and the sounds of their marching band rehearsing before the game and during halftime.

His friends were too generous. When we got home Max opened what seemed like a zillion presents and gift cards.

Max said his party was awesome. It was.

Having his big birthday a day before his actual birthday meant he got another party on his actual birthday with Mimi, Grandpa, Granny, Marlie, George, and me. Granny baked a thin-layer chocolate cake for the occasion, which we enjoyed in Mimi and Grandpa’s shop.

We had our party in the middle of the afternoon on Saturday, Max’s actual birthday. In the morning Becky and Max went to a friend’s birthday party in Duluth. He was anxious to get home to open our presents.

We gave our little buddy a scooter, skateboard, a Razor Crazy Cart, a “flatulence” machine (which he’ll be delighted to share with his classmates at his next show-and-tell), a Thomas TrackMaster set with lots of extra pieces, some Nerf stuff, and a Donald Trump bobblehead doll. (He asked for the doll.)

He had wanted a motorcycle and I wanted to buy him one, but we don’t have a place for him to ride it or adequate transportation to get the bike and equipment to and from local tracks. Maybe next year.

The little fellow didn’t get to enjoy his toys very long before it was time for Parents Night Out at Gymnastix Training Center, which he wanted to attend. I figured he’d want to stay home and play, but he wanted to play with his friends.

When Becky and I picked him up at 10:00 pm, he was still excited but he was also tired and said so.

When we went to bed with just two minutes left in the day, he wanted Becky and me to sing “Happy Birthday” to him again. We obliged.

He went to church this morning with Mimi and Grandpa and Mama joined them later for the regular Sunday service. They all went to Cracker Barrel for lunch and Max came home with Mimi and Grandpa and played with the kids who live caddy corner to Mimi and Grandpa.

We picked him up after a short while and headed to Granny’s for him to ride his new Crazy Cart and skateboard. He didn’t spend much time there because he wanted to go to the nearby skatepark at Duncan Creek Park. We all had a blast at the park, and Max has a few scrapes and bruises to show for it.

Today was Max’s first day learning how to ride a skateboard and a stunt-style kick scooter, and there were a handful of serious skateboarders at the park, along with another handful of kids who are also new to the sport. Everyone was very nice to Max. He was a little bit scared to get started “dropping off” into the skate bowls, but he eventually mustered the courage and confidence to do it. One teen girl was especially helpful in building his confidence on his skateboard. She held her foot in front of the board’s wheels so Max could get on it without having to balance while it was moving.

We headed home so we could begin preparing for the week ahead.

Just like when we used to blog daily, both Max and Becky are standing immediately behind me and adamantly demanding that I quit writing now and go to bed.

It was a grand weekend. I was sure to write this because I never want to forget it.

I’ll post pictures tomorrow.

Becky, Max and I are about to see Pete’s Dragon. Granny is keeping Marlie. Our little buddy is excited about his eighth birthday at the end of this week.

Yesterday, on my birthday, he was in a talkative mood and said he loves his life. He didn’t say that in response to any question or comment made by us. He came up with that all on his own. That was the best birthday present ever.

I hope he feels that way in five years.

And five years after that and five years after that and so on…

On his 2818th day of life outside of Mama, Max finally ate a cheeseburger. He and Mama were at Wendy’s after Max’s Taekwondo practice.

Then they went to Toys"R"Us for a Star Wars event, and then to Home Depot to build an Angry Birds birdhouse.

I’m posting from my iPhone. We’re at Sugar Hill’s ice skating rink, which is across the street from the cemetery where my daddy is buried. Max was insistent on visiting Daddy’s grave. The poor little fellow got down on his knees where he thought Grandpa’s head was and told him he hopes to see him sometime.

As we left, Max inquired about Santa’s delivering presents in Heaven. I told him I didn’t know, that maybe every day is Christmas up there. Max said he hopes they get presents in Heaven and that he hopes his grandpa gets the most.

Heavy stuff.

Today would have been my daddy’s eighty-third birthday. Happy birthday, Daddy. Max just sang “Happy Birthday” to you.

Max had a pretty good week last week. He landed on a yellow apple on Monday and on green apples Tuesday through Friday. A green apple indicates good or excellent behavior, a yellow apple indicates warnings, and a red apple indicates misbehavior after warnings. He had his first soccer practice of the new season last Tuesday.

This was Labor Day weekend, which means Mama and Max didn’t have to go to school today. Max stayed at home all day until Grandpa picked him up this evening. The little fellow begged Mama and me to play with him many times yesterday and today. His favorite activity is playing with his Thomas & Friends trains on the floor. We’ve ordered more track and if everything works out, we should be able to make a huge circle on the main floor of our house that goes into every room.

Yesterday Mama took Max to Toys"R"Us to spend some of his gift cards he received for his birthday. She said he was a good shopper. He complained about a Thomas & Friends toy’s using too much of his gift cards. He didn’t spend all he has, though, so he still has some for another day.

Today he asked if he could say “the F word.” I asked him what the F word was and he couldn’t tell me. Mama and I are a little disappointed by his hearing stuff like this at his age.

He said something funny yesterday regarding the new underwear Granny gave him for his birthday. They’re larger than what he’s used to and he said, “they don’t fit my balls just right.” What a funny thing to say.

He’s still preoccupied with potty words. When he’s trying to be funny he fits in at least one potty word in every sentence. Poop and toot are his favorites. He threatens to do one or the other on Mama and/or me every day.

We had some tickle time today and some sword fighting, and he enjoyed both. He enjoyed playing with the remote-controlled car his friend Joshua gave him for his birthday. It runs forward and backward and will do cool spinouts. It has a fifth wheel so it can also run in a vertical position.

He got to see his sweetheart Annabelle today when she and her mother dropped by to pick up something they left behind at Max’s birthday party. Max would’ve loved to have entertained Annabelle all afternoon, but she and her mother had stuff to do and couldn’t stay.

He’s as hyper as ever, but he’s mostly sweet. The boy loves his mama and daddy, and we certainly love him. He’s been asking me if I’m his friend, and I assure him I’ll always be his friend, but I have to be his daddy first. He seems genuinely impressed by my telling him that I’ll always love him regardless of what he does.

He’s spending the night with Mimi and Grandpa tonight and I’m looking forward to giving him a big bear hug in the morning.

Ax, Mama, and I were tired today from yesterday’s birthday party frenzy. They took a nap together this afternoon and I rested on the sofa.

We all went to Granny’s this morning for breakfast. Max didn’t go to church because we wanted him to sleep late and rest.

Today’s entry will be our last daily entry for a good while. Mama and I plan to share news and holiday- and special event happenings, but we’re cutting daily blog entries from our nightly bedtime routine.

When we began blogging daily at the time Max was born, we didn’t know for how long we’d write daily entries. After a year or two I figured we’d stop writing daily around Max’s fifth birthday, but I’ve been putting it off for a year. We asked Max what he thought about our not blogging daily and he was enthusiastic for the idea. He said he didn’t want it to take so long for us to get into bed with him at night.

Our main reason for not writing every day is a lack of time and energy at bedtime. With Max’s getting up so early to go to school with Mama, we have to go to bed at least an hour earlier we did last year. Writing a blog entry takes between twenty minutes and more than an hour, so we’d like to use that time for getting Max to bed earlier.

The little fellow is spending the night with Mimi and Grandpa tonight. We miss our favorite snuggle buddy.