High point from the last few days : Saturday's trip down to Fort Lauderdale (about three and a half hours from here) for the kids' first difficulty climbing competition of the season. Stephen placed fourth in his category (14/15 boys), Em placed first in hers (12/13 girls), and Sophie placed first in hers (girls 11-and-under). Not bad as Soph is only 7.

Low point - after a pleasant day yesterday (bike ride with my dad, visit to a sculpture garden with my mom) I started to feel queasy late afternoon, and Sophie started to complain of a sore stomach. Nevertheless, when the next-door kids came to ask her to play, she went .... only to come running back half-an-hour later and promptly throw up everywhere. The hallway. The kitchen. The family room. Sheesh, why not just stand still and throw up? Why run from room to room? Ugh. The clean-up was not fun. And by the end of the evening, both Stephen and I had succumbed to the bug as well. Fortunately, we all feel okay today, and with any luck the others will escape it entirely.

Poor Bobby ... He got home just as Sophie had finished throwing up, so I was completely embroiled in the clean-up. I sent him straight out again to get Febreze and ginger-ale, and by the time he was back and I'd finished dealing with the puke, I was feeling so awful that I went straight to bed. So we didn't really speak till this morning. And it turns out he had a really shitty day yesterday. Must have been a rather grim homecoming.