My Birthday Week

Emma and Erin riding the gator
So fun as a kid....such torture as an adult

Emma (a.k.a. Suri Cruise) but way more beautiful

Waiting patiently for ice cream

My dramatic reenactment of how fire rescue trucks are used. Now all I need is a big strong handsome fireman to come rescue me.

I think Ben would have driven off with this truck if he could have!

Claire and Erin posing on the big red truck

A few more years 'til it fits, Ben!

I love having fun things to look forward to during the week! Wednesday evening we went to some friends for dinner and then to see the firetrucks which Ben had been talking about all week. It's so fun to see a little kid so excited about something! Unfortunately, Joel and Jerry sounded the horn and sirens. Ben will never look at a fire truck the same again. Pure terror! After our firetruck tour came some ice cream at the local Byron Center hot spot. My malt was accidentally snatched up by a teenager who returned it to me after taking some gulps. I replaced the straw and decided to, so to speak, "suck it up" and not insist on having a new malt. I didn't want embarrass anyone, particularly Joel who is still traumatized over an incident with me and my very rare cooked steak several years ago at Big Buck Brewery. Five minutes later, however, Ben poured my entire malt on the pavement. It was the the malt that was never meant to be. Thursday morning I met some friends at the park. We get together for each of our birthdays, and it has evolved from long lunches at our favorite Chinese restaurant where they knew us by name to a quick morning coffee at Panera Bread and now to the playground at the park where we bring our own coffee. This is probably due to the fact that the kids now outnumber the adults! We still managed to have fun although all my quick pieces of conversation spent in between chasing kids could probably be condensed into 2 minutes and 32 seconds.