...Yesterday was mine.
The day started with breakfast in bed, made by my kids… and I might add that I am pretty sure Phil helped, because it actually tasted good. This is not a knock on my kids. They are just… well… creative when you leave them in the kitchen alone. It was not so long ago that they combined molasses, maple syrup, sugar, flour, oatmeal, and a variety of other things and then tried to bake their batter and called it cookies. I did not sample those. At any rate…I enjoyed my waffles and toast.
Then I took a bubble bath. And no one knocked on the door. And no one screamed for me, while I was in the bathroom. This is a very rare occurrence, these days. It was wonderful.
After that, it was present time. Birthdays are a big deal around here, so even though I encouraged Phil to skip on the gifts this time around, I knew there would be something. First, there were gifts from the kids. I received a new dish towel from Caleb. He was so proud of his offering… especially the wrapping paper. He drew me a beautiful card filled with butterflies. If you looked at it, you would think they were just random lines, but I know that they are butterflies. Phil labeled them, after all… Grace, who is traditionally our big spender (our girl… no surprise) had two gifts for me: a plastic box to hold CDs and DVDs and a dove candy bar… mmm… my favorite! Of course, there was also a very nice hand drawn card. And Seth, generally a cheap skate, but that's why he has more cash than anyone in this household, bought me some socks and, not to be outdone by his sister, a dove candy bar, as well. Gosh, where did I put those? I could use some breakfast! Seth also drew a card and wrote an incredible poem for me. It was so cute. Ian drew a card, too, but I'd bet he mostly tried to eat the crayons! 
Phil is notorious for buying really sweet, kinda mushy cards. Not so, this year. I am not sure I have ever laughed so hard about a card in all my 28 (now) years! I am not going to share the whole thing, but it came with a button attached that was supposed to qualify as "jewelry". It was hilarious! As another surprise, I actually did receive a piece of clothing. It is a Rip Hamilton Pistons jersey. This is fantastic, since I have not been wearing my Ben Wallace one so much, since he became a traitor… I also got several My Little Ponies… uh… let me explain. I actually asked for them! While cruising Wal-Mart the other day, I ran across replicas of the original My Little Ponies. Of course, I fell in love and had to have them! Now I can take my own ponies to Grace's room when I want to play, and she can't tell me what to do with them… hehehe… To top it off, there was a book I've wanted for quite some time (White Chocolate Moments… oh, there's the chocolate), a movie (Facing the Giants), and seven CDs. If you think this is excessive, you're probably right. But, remember, we are deal shoppers. We can buy the same amount of things as most normal people for half (or less) the price, much of the time. As the week rolls on, I'll try to tell you more about what I think of each CD.
Rakin' in the Loot...
Well… that would have been enough for me during any ordinary year. However, we still have these season passes to CP burning holes in our pockets, so we took a little trip! Grace and I rode Disaster Transport first, because there was signage that said "Now in 3-D", and we wondered what that was all about. We couldn't find anything different about the ride, but it was a walk-on, it's one of Grace's favorites, and we got the front seat, so there are no complaints here. I rode the Wave Swinger with Seth and Grace and got a real kick out of Seth's reaction to the tree you almost run into if you are seated in an outside swing. I remember trying to touch it, as a kid, while riding. That was always a favorite of mine.
Another fun adventure was when I decided that it would be fun to find one of those machines that makes picture strips. Phil and I had done this, once, when we were dating. Let me tell ya, it's a whole lot easier to fit two people into one of those booths than it is to cram in our family of six! But… since we are a little on the crazy side, we made it work. I love the results:
Undoubtedly, the best moment of the day came when I was getting ready to board Woodstock Express with Caleb. Seth and Grace had already taken their seats, when the ride operator stopped us and asked, "How old are you?" I thought I'd heard wrong, and honestly I couldn't figure out why it mattered, so I said, "What?" He repeated, "How old are you?" I was still a little confused at this point, so I repeated his question back to him as a question of my own, "How old am I?" And, of course, he responded (a bit irritated now), "Yes, how old are you?" And then, all of my research on CP policies came back to me at once, and I realized that this man was not going to let me on the ride with my three year old, because Caleb is too short to ride unless he is accompanied by a responsible adult. He didn't think I was an adult! Well… happy birthday! I stifled a laugh by pretending to cough… looked right at him… and said, "28". He looked at me as if he didn't believe it, but he said, "Oh, OK" and let us board. To think…I was nearly carded to ride the Woodstock Express. I love it… I mean, does it really matter how old you are if you can still pass for 17? 
There are still no good pics. of me and Caleb on this ride. After all of the confusion, I forgot which side I was supposed to sit on so Phil could get good pictures.
We walked to Breakers in order to have my birthday dinner at TGIFridays. Ordinarily, I love Fridays, but you never know what you're gonna get when you're on amusement park property. Let it suffice to say that it wasn't what we'd hoped for, but it was OK. We did take a nice tour of Breakers, since it took a while for us to find the restaurant. The kids were kind of irritated that we couldn't go swimming in the pool.
When we returned to the park, Grace and I took a spin on Wild Cat. It had been a decade since I last rode this coaster, and it has now fallen to Demon Drop status with me. It is simply too old and rickety for me to enjoy anymore… or maybe I am simply too old and rickety to enjoy it. At any rate, I don't feel the need to do that one again. I value the health of my spinal cord too much. After a nice ride on Iron Dragon with both Seth and Grace, I was ready to call it a day.
However… Caleb was disappointed that he hadn't ridden very much, so Phil promised to take him on one more ride. They chose the Cadillac cars, because the line was short, and Caleb enjoys them. Seth, Grace, Ian, and I sat down under a nearby tree. But the sky looked dark, and once the thunder began, I didn't think the tree was the best place after all. I shouted to Phil (who was sheltered with Caleb under a roof) that we were headed to the Snoopy Boutique across the street. Within moments of setting foot inside, the downpour began. Little did I know that Phil and Caleb had just begun their ride! 
Thankfully, they were not far along and were able to return to the station. Several other cars that had departed just ahead of them were stranded in the rain! The storm did eventually blow over, so we made our way through all of the smoke. Apparently the non-smoking policy does not apply during thunderstorms… and it wasn't all tobacco, either. We could have gotten high, just walking down the midway. Then we waited for Phil and Caleb to take their ride. It still took a while, as the ride operators had to dry the drenched seats!
After that, we started for home. Three out of four little people fell asleep on the way, which isn't so bad, these days. It was a really nice birthday.
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