My Birthday Weekend

Thursday, November 11

This year, Veteran's Day was on a Thursday and so I decided I was going to take the Friday off because my birthday was on the Saturday and it didn't make sense to take a day off, go to work for a day and then have the rest of the weekend to do whatever.  I really didn't get to do anything fun for my birthday last year and it looked like this year wasn't going to be any different.  I honestly had no idea what I was going to do for my birthday.  I knew what I wanted to do but the weather was too bad to go ahead and plan for it.  This is why I wish my birthday was during the summer instead.  So, power trail caching in Walla Walla will have to wait again.

Just after our last paint day, last month, Nicole had already planned when our next one was.  Most of us work for the state and have Veteran's Day off, she planned to do our next one that morning at around 11:00.  I knew I could come a little bit earlier so we would have enough room at the table for everyone.  I got up around 9:30, ate a quick breakfast and told Doug jumped into the Escape so I could drop him off at the U-Haul place just off of Pacific.  He had to wait a long time and once he was helped, he found out Jenn only got the truck for a day.  He told her and she fixed the reservation online, so they had it for three days.  I took him to the truck and told him I would see him later that afternoon.

I drove over to Tumwater with my Fritos and cheese dip.  I saw that Nicole and her sister, Nikki, were already over there working on their painting.  Nikki was in town from Alaska to go to Lindsay's second baby shower (mostly for family) on Saturday and she wanted to try her hands on this month's painting.  This time we tried a new technique that involved shards of glass and glitter.  I chose to do blue and silver.  I found a seat, picked a canvas and had at it.  Nicole helped us along the way.  Sarah and her former co-worker, Michele showed up later that morning.  We had a great time working on our masterpieces.  Mine, turned out okay but could have been better.  We had to leave them with Nicole so they could dry.  I thanked Nicole for hosting paint day, and I would see her later.

I headed home really quick and then drove over to his house.  Jenn was supposed to be packing her stuff and I'm sure she was making this harder than it needed to be.  We loaded up some of the furniture that took two people into the truck and went through some of the rooms and packed up some of Doug's stuff he didn't grab the past few weekends we were here.  We put that stuff in the back of the Escape.  I was only helping him today and tomorrow because I was not going to spend my birthday helping my brother's ex-girlfriend move.

We asked Ben to come over and drop off the dolly and he stayed for a bit helping us move boxes to the truck.  It got dark and so we wrapped up what we were doing and called it a night.  We went home, made some homemade teriyaki chicken, watched Thursday Night Football, which turned into another weird prime time game that ended not how anyone thought it would, worked on my blog for a little bit and we all went to bed eventually.  

Friday, November 12

The next day, Doug and I got up before 10, I got some breakfast and we met Dad over at Doug's house.  Of course, the weather was horrible.  We spent the next few hours loading up large furniture, desks and more boxes.  Meanwhile, I loaded up so many cardboard boxes into the Escape and every time I thought I was done, there were more I found inside the house.  Doug said that she would not get rid of the boxes, and they just piled up.  He was glad to finally get rid of them.  We even stuffed some Styrofoam into the Escape as well.  Jenn said we could have the turkey inside the chest freezer she was cleaning out.  We already had one for Thanksgiving, so we decided to see if Erika and Zach needed it.  

We did as much as we could that afternoon.  Dad went to go see Grandpa and then drove back into Rainier since he had some other stuff to do that afternoon and Doug and I went to the Hawks Prairie recycle to get rid of the boxes and then stopped by Erika's house, since she has Friday's off.  She was diligently working on her thesis.  She took the turkey off of our hands, we visited for a little while and updated her on what was going on with the whole break-up and how difficult Jenn was making it.  We left and Doug said he was hungry.

I asked him what he felt like eating and he decided on Pho, so we went to Pho Hoa, near the Red Robin complex.  I haven't had Pho in almost two years...back when Nicole, Lindsay and I had lunch meetings once a month when we used to go to work in Tumwater.  I ordered the smallest size of chicken Pho, and it was tasty.  My body wasn't used to eating this kind of stuff, so it made me feel bloated and sleepy.  We came home and we each took naps.  

Later on, that day, I watched the World Cup qualifier, USA beat Mexico 2-0, Ben came home, and we ate leftovers for dinner and hung out the rest of the night catching up on our shows like Survivor.  

Tomorrow's my birthday!  Woooo!

Saturday, November 13

Ben bought tickets to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium for the 11 a.m. time slot.  We woke up with our alarms, had a light breakfast, got ready and headed to Tacoma to spend a few hours wandering around the zoo and aquarium.  Traffic wasn't that bad, and we made it to the parking lot without any trouble.  We parked in the duck lot.  We walked to the ticket office, Ben showed them our tickets, they handed us a map and we went in.  We decided on doing a circle and trying to see as much of the place as we could.  Since it was fall and the weather was disappointing, some of the exhibits were closed and the zoo staff had started putting up the zoo lights displays.

The last time I remember being at the zoo was on a 4th grade field trip.  Back then, the place seemed much bigger than it appeared today.  I know the place has been remodeled since 1994 but it was so long ago, I can't remember what it used to look like.  I do remember enjoying the beluga whales and they didn't have them anymore when we walked through the aquarium part of the zoo.  We meandered along through the wild animal exhibits, had a great time looking at the marine life, we got to pet a sting ray and even stopped by the gift shop to look at all the cute plushies!  We got a fantastic picture of Ben with the butterfly wings.

We figured we spent enough time there and walked back out to the Edge.  I wanted to find a couple caches on my birthday, so we checked the app to see which ones were closest.  There were two near the park on the way out.  The first one was On the Way to Salmon Beach (GC3DXGH).  We pulled up into the small parking lot, parked and got out to look for the cache.  I wasn't sure what I was looking for and neither of us understood the hint.  I checked a bunch of places and we finally found it tucked in one of the holes of the cement poles.  We signed the logbook and shoved the bison tube back into where we found it.  We hopped back in the Edge and went to the next one.

I saw just about a mile away or so was a TB hotel and hoped there were some inside for me to move along.  Champs TB Lookout (GC4XBV4) is not where we thought it was, haha.  I thought it was over by the bench on the other side of the road, nope!  It was in someone's yard at the wooden carving of Champ.  Champs is a legendary sea monster that lives in Lake Champlain on the US-Canadian border of Vermont and New York.  We found the hiding spot, found the combo for the lock and opened the cover.  I grabbed a couple TB's and an evil cache someone had made out of a fake tree branch and a nano.  Yes, we will hide it at some point.  

Ben was hungry so we stopped by a Taco Time in Fircrest.  We went through the drive through and shared a chicken burrito stick and some tots.  We didn't want to eat a lot because we were having Buffalo Wild Wings with our family and friends later on.  We ate our food as we drove back towards Lacey.

We made it home just in time for Trish, Amy and Ed's arrival.  I ran into Rainier to pick up Grandma and brought her into town because Mom, Dad and Doug didn't think they would be back from Federal Way after dropping off Jenn's stuff at her new apartment in time to get Grandma.  She was ready when I got there and headed back into Lacey.  We all played a round of marbles while we waited to go to Buffalo Wild Wings.  Ben had called a few days ago to make sure we had a couple tables in the patio area.  They told him to show up early so they can get it ready to go.

We all drove to Olympia and were there a half hour early.  Apparently, none of that information was passed onto the manager so there was a miscommunication between the staff.  Once, Cassidy found out, we were seated right way and got some free appetizers, which wasn't necessary, but we appreciated the gesture.  We got organized, ordered food and drinks and I made my rounds visiting with my family and friends.  It was so nice to finally have a birthday party after throwing one together last minute in 2020.  It felt great to finally have a normal birthday party again with my people.  We ate white cake with strawberries and whipped cream and opened presents.  I got a couple gift cards, money and some fun little thoughtful gifts.  Nicole made me a Seahawks wreath and it was pretty awesome.  I love handmade gifts.  The Cougar and Ducks game was playing on the TV in the background, and we held our own through most of the game.

I thanked everyone for coming, we all paid, and Ben and I wanted to give Cassidy a tip, but she couldn't accept it.  We ended up sending it to her via Venmo because we did appreciate the effort that she put into making her customers happy.  

We came home, watched the rest of the Cougar and Duck game and we barely lost but the Huskies lost, we relaxed a bit and went to bed. 

Here's to 38!

Sunday, November 14

Sadly, my four-day weekend was almost over.  That morning, I slept in, made a light breakfast, finished some laundry, watched some morning football and then decided to go to the Walmart in Hawks Prairie so I didn't have to do it during the week.  Traffic was stupid for it being a Sunday afternoon.  I thought more people would be at home watching football.  Our game with the Packers started at 1:30 and I hoped that we actually played football this time.  This season has been so disappointing.  

I got groceries, watched some really dumb people in front of me using the self-checkout and had to wait a long time for them.  I finally got to ring up, paid and headed home.  I unloaded groceries and put them away.  I saw the Seahawks game was really sad with us being down 3-0 at halftime.  Our defense was hanging in there but not for long.  We made chicken salad sandwiches and watched the rest of the really terrible game.  We ended up losing 17-0 and were given Wilson's first NFL shutout. 

I changed the plastic shower curtain liner in our bathroom, did some shredding, worked on my blog, petted the kitties and did some of the dishes.

We watched Sunday Night Football and got out all the ingredients for dinner.  We made lasagna, salad and Texas Toast garlic bread.  After dinner, we cleaned up the kitchen, talked to Trish for a bit, Ben gave himself a haircut, he showered, and then played his game for a while with Josh.  I got cleaned up and got ready for the upcoming work week.  

It's sad that four-day weekends go by super-fast.  This wasn't the ideal birthday weekend, but I was happy to spend it with family and friends.  I was excited for my upcoming chiro and massage visit on Tuesday.

Next Adventure:  Trish's Birthday Weekend