Got up early because I heard Max was awake in the next room. It was still dark outside when I picked him up and took him to the kitchen to watch the sunrise. All was well. We were singing quietly. I was trying to give Alex an extra hour of sleep. Then when I put Max into his little bouncer chair he kicked his legs and kicked himself right out of the chair. He landed on his stomach on the carpet — more alarmed than injured — and let out a terrific scream. That brought Mom and Grandma out in a big hurry. So much for the extra hour of sleep. Max calmed down almost right away but acted a little strange to me after that.

By 10:00 the lady-niners were out in full force on the golf course. Red balloon valentines taped to their fancy golf carts. All wearing sparkly red Valentine’s tops. Red shorts. White shorts with red tops. All decked out. Their golf was still shitty, but at least they looked good. Our fancy breakfast was ‘the usual’ — toast and cereal. After breakfast Tim and Alex went shopping and Sue and Max and I watched the golfers. When the kids got back we barbecued whistle dogs on the barbecue.

Then Tim and I went to the Palm Desert course for golf while the girls took turns sitting at the pool and snoozing inside with Max. The weather was perfect. Hot and calm and sunny. The golf course was busy, so although we were there almost an hour before our tee time, we didn’t get on any earlier. And we were partnered with another twosome. An older couple from Tennessee, ‘CC’ and ‘DD’ were great golf partners. ‘CC’ was a good golfer, and ‘DD’ had taken it up a few years ago. ‘CC’ reminded me of Jimmy Carter; same accent, looked a bit like him, very gentle and friendly. So, although we had to wait at nearly every hole, we really enjoyed our time. And both Tim and I shot pretty good games to boot. We managed to finish 16 holes before we called it a day at 5:30. Back at our house, Tim and Alex made supper for us. They’d bought all the supplies in the morning, pasta with Italian sausage, salad, and fancy pastries from Sherman’s Bakery for dessert. It was very warm in our house, maybe too warm for Max to go to sleep nicely. (I finally turned on the A/C.) So we all took a turn rocking him while we watched “The Five Year Engagement” (good Valentine’s Day choice for the ladies) on HBO. Max finally drifted off at 9:30. Alex and Sue went to sleep at 10:00. Tim and I started watching “The Bourne Legacy” (Redbox rental) but I couldn’t stay awake and went to bed at 11:00.