Yes, I skipped an official blog post today because it was my birthday and instead I spent the day eating lots of yummy food and enjoying my family.
Also a mosquito bit me on the palm of my right hand and never before have I known such torment. Well, the wasp sting last year was pretty awful, but that was more agony, less annoyance.
Also tomorrow I get more Life is Strange which means I may never sleep again because I stress out more about the decisions in this game than I do about things that happen in my real life. I consider this episode to be a birthday gift just for me.
Showing posts with label birthdays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthdays. Show all posts
Monday, July 27, 2015
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Dad's Amazing Race Birthday: Part Two
On Monday, we gave Dad another clue envelope. Inside were driving directions. He followed them, finally arriving at Zip Timber Lake in Huntington. There were no huge signs, so he was clueless. I gave him a present--a diaper--and then another clue envelope. It told him what was coming, a zip-lining tour for Dad, Mum, The Brother, and I.
I'd done the course before with Rachael, so I knew what was coming. The rest of my family were new to zip-lining. It was entertaining. Especially because The Brother kept announcing he was "Fine" and this was "No problem." Except I could tell he was freaked. He got more comfortable after the first few zips. Mum never quite learned how to stop, and she developed an overwhelming need to perfect the art of stopping before slamming into the platform. My favorite moment was when she was crossing one of the bridges and Dad shook it as he crossed behind her. Here's the video (The funny starts at about the 50 second mark).
I took as many videos as I could, just so I could get all the funny stuff recorded. It was a blast.
At one point Mum turned to me and said, "I'm a bit tired of being brave." She really was brave. For someone to hurtle at epic speed at trees all day, unable to figure out how to stop? I can't imagine how scary that would be.
I had made Dad a chocolate cream pie the day before, so we went home and cut into it...only to find that the chocolate pudding (which I make all the time) had chosen this time to not bother setting at all. It was chocolate soup, served chilled in a pie shell. Everyone ate it anyway, because they love me. I really would like to know what went wrong this time. It was properly thickened in the saucepan...it just did not set when it cooled. Whatever. Pie is evil.
The zip-line guy, Jonathan, took a picture of the whole family and sent it to me. This is now the most current family portrait we have. The last picture of all of us together is almost ten years old! Apparently we don't photograph things.
I'd done the course before with Rachael, so I knew what was coming. The rest of my family were new to zip-lining. It was entertaining. Especially because The Brother kept announcing he was "Fine" and this was "No problem." Except I could tell he was freaked. He got more comfortable after the first few zips. Mum never quite learned how to stop, and she developed an overwhelming need to perfect the art of stopping before slamming into the platform. My favorite moment was when she was crossing one of the bridges and Dad shook it as he crossed behind her. Here's the video (The funny starts at about the 50 second mark).
I took as many videos as I could, just so I could get all the funny stuff recorded. It was a blast.
At one point Mum turned to me and said, "I'm a bit tired of being brave." She really was brave. For someone to hurtle at epic speed at trees all day, unable to figure out how to stop? I can't imagine how scary that would be.
I had made Dad a chocolate cream pie the day before, so we went home and cut into it...only to find that the chocolate pudding (which I make all the time) had chosen this time to not bother setting at all. It was chocolate soup, served chilled in a pie shell. Everyone ate it anyway, because they love me. I really would like to know what went wrong this time. It was properly thickened in the saucepan...it just did not set when it cooled. Whatever. Pie is evil.
The zip-line guy, Jonathan, took a picture of the whole family and sent it to me. This is now the most current family portrait we have. The last picture of all of us together is almost ten years old! Apparently we don't photograph things.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Dad's Amazing Race Birthday: Part One
Dad is 60 today! I'm sure he's thrilled I told you. To celebrate, I set up an Amazing Race-style series of challenges for him. It started Saturday afternoon, when I presented him with a clue envelope.
I had prepped all the envelopes and written out instructions and driving directions ahead of time. To make everything look really professional, I adapted free printables I found online. Here's what I used. I changed the envelopes to say "birthday" instead of "date," because it would have been creepy otherwise.
His first challenge was a Detour (a choice between two tasks): Shape Up or Ship Out. For Shape Up, he would have to complete the minimum requirements to join the fire department. He'd have to do sit-ups and push-ups, monitored by the fire chief (The Brother). For Ship Out, he'd need to take out our kayak and use an improvised paddle to cross the river, retrieve a leaf, and return to the other side.
He chose to Ship Out.
He fell down the bank at one point, and I thought the race had ended prematurely with a trip to the emergency room, but he was okay. Thankfully.
When he returned with his leaf, he received a Roadblock called Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day. Dad had to write a sonnet (following the official structure of a sonnet--no cheating allowed), directed to his lady love (Mum). If she liked it, she would give him his next clue. If she hated it, she could spurn him and send him back for a rewrite.
Then we sent him to the library for Dewey or Don't We?, a test of his library skills. Dad needs to work on his library skills.
He had to assemble a card from pieces of paper found in books I'd picked out. They all were about things that had happened during Dad's life, or about topics he found interesting, about being aged, that sort of thing.
When he put them all together, he had a quote and another Roadblock, We Like You a Latte.
Dad memorized the quote and walked to Modoc's Market, where the management had kindly agreed to work with me. Dad would walk in, repeat the quote, and receive a latte. I'd prepaid for the drink and left a card with Dad's picture and a copy of the quote. Dad was so speedy, Mum and Paul missed this and I didn't get any video!
We took pictures on Modoc's elephant statue when we finished.
Then, Dad got more route info, which took him to dinner at The Rusty Dog in Huntington. That was the pit-stop for this leg of the race (although not really, because we let him come home to sleep and didn't leave him to fend for himself in Huntington).
I had prepped all the envelopes and written out instructions and driving directions ahead of time. To make everything look really professional, I adapted free printables I found online. Here's what I used. I changed the envelopes to say "birthday" instead of "date," because it would have been creepy otherwise.
His first challenge was a Detour (a choice between two tasks): Shape Up or Ship Out. For Shape Up, he would have to complete the minimum requirements to join the fire department. He'd have to do sit-ups and push-ups, monitored by the fire chief (The Brother). For Ship Out, he'd need to take out our kayak and use an improvised paddle to cross the river, retrieve a leaf, and return to the other side.
He chose to Ship Out.
He fell down the bank at one point, and I thought the race had ended prematurely with a trip to the emergency room, but he was okay. Thankfully.
When he returned with his leaf, he received a Roadblock called Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day. Dad had to write a sonnet (following the official structure of a sonnet--no cheating allowed), directed to his lady love (Mum). If she liked it, she would give him his next clue. If she hated it, she could spurn him and send him back for a rewrite.
Then we sent him to the library for Dewey or Don't We?, a test of his library skills. Dad needs to work on his library skills.
He had to assemble a card from pieces of paper found in books I'd picked out. They all were about things that had happened during Dad's life, or about topics he found interesting, about being aged, that sort of thing.
When he put them all together, he had a quote and another Roadblock, We Like You a Latte.
Dad memorized the quote and walked to Modoc's Market, where the management had kindly agreed to work with me. Dad would walk in, repeat the quote, and receive a latte. I'd prepaid for the drink and left a card with Dad's picture and a copy of the quote. Dad was so speedy, Mum and Paul missed this and I didn't get any video!
We took pictures on Modoc's elephant statue when we finished.
Then, Dad got more route info, which took him to dinner at The Rusty Dog in Huntington. That was the pit-stop for this leg of the race (although not really, because we let him come home to sleep and didn't leave him to fend for himself in Huntington).
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