Today started out very early for Mike, Sage and Aidan.  They were up at 5:30 this morning so they could drive up to Everett to meet Mike's dad for a hike.  You see, today was Mike's 30th birthday and him and Ned had a tradition of going on a hike on his birthday.  The last time they were able to do this though was on Mike's 18th birthday so it was very nice that we were able to be up here today.  What made it even more special was the fact that Ned and Mike were able to share their tradition with Sage and Aidan and to make memories that will last a lifetime.  Their hike was three hours long and almost four miles.  As you can imagine Aidan did not make it that far so Mike had him on his shoulders for most of the hike.
On the drive back to the house Aidan fell asleep and ended up sleeping for almost three hours.  So, Mike and Sage played some video games while I fiddled on the computer.  When Aidan finally woke up we all hung out playing games and watching TV for awhile before we decided to head downstairs for cake and ice cream.  We were very fortunate, because a family that we know here, the Alvarez's, had come down at the same time.  We invited them to join us in the celebration, which helped to make it less lonely. 
They are an amazing family from Toppenish who are here because their six year old daughter Jazmin is battling leukemia.  Yet she is one of the happiest kids you will ever meet.  During the cake and ice cream her and Aidan were taking pictures of all of us.  When we were done the two little ones helped be unload some dishes before they were off playing hide and go seek.  It wasn't long before they had Mike and Patty (Jazmin's mom) joining them in on the fun. 
Afterwords it was back upstairs for showers, teeth, meds, prayers, and sleep.

Tanya