Saturday, as you may have noticed, was Valentine’s Day. In addition, it was “my” day where I could plan anything that I wanted to do. So, what does the master of schmooze and romance do on our national day of love? Hang out with lots of students! And it was much fun, too.
To start the student-intensive day, we headed to a birthday celebration for Zach (a.k.a. “Moops”), which was being held nearby. Moops is a Royal Fool, and so I have known him for a couple of years. His mom is also a music teacher at CVCA, and so I have known her for about 5 years. Mer pointed out that it is pretty neat that we feel comfortable hanging out with either the parents or the students. Anyway, I digress.
We first struck out for Hudson to get Moops a birthday present. It seemed natural to guess what he might like – a teenaged male could not dislike food! So, we headed to the nearest Panera and picked up a gift card. We were waited on by a CVCA student, so we got an additional student appearance in on the day. 
Supplied with our gift, we headed to Kendall Hills park where the party was being held. It was supposed to be a sledding (“sliding,” in Maine) party, but the two-plus feet of snow we had two weeks ago is now gone. So, it turned into an eat-and-hike party.
It was a surprise party, so Moops was not there when we arrived. There was a warm and roaring fire in a large barrel to keep us warm, so the waiting was not a problem. There were several students that Mer and I knew, and Moops’s parents and grandparents were there, so we had a good time waiting for the birthday boy.
He showed up with his girlfriend, who was the one to dream up an excuse to come to a park on a lightly snowing day (I think she told him they were meeting her sister and then going to lunch). Moops seemed quite surprised. Food suddenly appeared in the form of chips and pizza. We ate and talked, and then we each got a cupcake with a candle on it to blow out. I guess Moops is so old he needs help with his candles! It was a fun and tasty twist on a cake.
We then took a hike of about a mile around the park. When I say “we,” I mean the students took off ahead while we cleaned things up a bit, and then we (Moops’s parents and Mer and I) followed at a distance. The snow was not heavy and was not accumulating; it just made things pretty. We tromped around for about a mile or so and made a loop back to the fire. We talked for a few minutes more, but then Mer and I had to leave for part two of the evening. I’m glad Moops was able to host us for his birthday – food and fellowship and hiking makes for a good time. 