It's My Birthday!

It is, really! I am 64 years old today. Although 64 isn't quite as exciting as 60, it has been a very good year, and I anticipate the coming year to be even better if that's possible.

We left Maumee, Ohio this morning at 8:30 and arrived here in Crystal Lake, IL about 12:30, just in time to meet our sweet Paige for lunch. How wonderful it is to see her and spend the afternoon and evening with her.

After lunch, we went back to her house and met her dog, Boomer. Boomer is a 120 pound Great Dane. He and Arlo are pretty good buddies, and they both seem to like Jim.

So, you may ask, how did I celebrate my birthday? I'll admit it wasn't my usual style of celebrating. You see, I shared my celebration with Paige's buddy, Liam who was ten on Wednesday. His choice of parties was at the....

That's right, we celebrated with Liam and 25 of his best friends at a bowling alley/video game arcade. After fifteen minutes, Jim turned to me and said, "I know for sure now why I retired." I cannot remember when I've heard so much squealing, giggling and just plain yelling. As you might guess, they had a great time.

Paige and Dad sharing a moment and a slice of pizza.

Paige signing Liam's bowling pin. Each birthday child is given a pin for all his birthday guests to sign. Did I mention that there were four other parties going on at the same time as Liam's? I have never seen a more organized and fun group of people as those who ran these parties. Not only did the kids bowl, they were led in dances like the limbo and the cha-cha. There was a shouting contest, which, by the way, Liam's group won, and other organized activities. When the bowling was over, Liam and all his friends went into the laser tag room to play. I was invited, but wimped out. Gretchen is very disappointed in her mother as she thought me playing laser tag would be a great birthday post.

The birthday boy and girl!!


After the party, we went back home to watch Liam open his gifts and share some wonderful Chinese food and wine.


Tomorrow promises to be a funfilled day with a wine tasting, swimming at our hotel and a fondue dinner. Stay tuned.

Today's word:

Reconnoiter - To make a preliminary inspection of, especially in

order to gather military information.

~Hippo Hugs~