Ethan and Ehlana:
Happy 14th Birthday, Sophia!
Happy 30th Birthday, Stephanie!
We haven’t been able to do much for Stephanie’s special day from Washington, but we did get in on a vid-call with Sophia’s cousins at breakfast – and with Cassie and Michael too. That was a fun way to start our day – along with the Tai Chi by the hotel pool for six that was an option because the rain and storms didn’t start rolling through until this afternoon. We have been doing our best to make Sophia’s birthday a best-ever even without Aaron here to help her with that, but then we did spend the day at the Smithsonian museums; so that’s quite a bit better than anything we could have managed at home on a school night!
The museums truly are a national treasure, and we loved everything we saw today. After exploring the wonders of history, science, and nature, we went out for dinner at an Italian restaurant where we had a great meal; Cassie and Michael took care of having a cake for Sophia, and we had lots of gifts for her too. We went back to the hotel after that meal; went for a swim during a break in the weather; and now we’re winding down toward bedtime with another chat that Aiden and Sophia are with us for and the usual computer checks. We’ve had an amazing day, but should cover at least a few news stories tonight.
Israel conducted a major airstrike campaign into Yemen in retaliation for a Houthi missile strike on Ben Gurion airport; so the fighting is escalating again. Talks are breaking down for pretty much everything in the Middle East, and there have been some hints of trouble between Israel and Turkey as they position themselves to take over parts of Syria while the new government there is busy killing off everyone that isn’t a radical Muslim terrorist. Israel is happy to gobble up more Syrian land by claiming the need to protect the minority groups, but that’s transparent and they don’t care about those people anymore than they care about the Palestinians that they’re continuing to decimate in Gaza and the West Bank. Iran is not going to cave to U.S. and Israel demands; so there could be war there; and tensions continue to ratchet up between India and Pakistan. It looks as though the peace talks are over for the Ukraine conflict now too, and while Russia has called for a three-day truce at the end of this week while the eightieth anniversary of the end of World War Two is commemorated; we seem to be well on the way to escalating to the next world war anytime after that. Add in new economic threats against China and other countries for everything from foreign-made movies to a trade ban for anyone buying Iranian or Russian oil; and our world leaders are truly making a mess of the world!
We want to stay happy, though – even here in the dark heart of our Capital, so that’s all for tonight. Sophia is going to the room she’s sharing with Ehlana; I’m going to visit Cassie and Michael so that Ehlana and Aiden can have a bit of alone time; and then we’ll all get some sleep and get ready for what might be our toughest day of the week – our visit to the halls of power and with one or more of the congress-critters working there! Wish us luck – even from our future; since we might really need it!
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
