Today – Saturday, Feb 8 – my birthday – I did laundry.

Friday, February 7 – the day before my birthday – started early when I received a message from our niece, asking if I was home. She was in the area and wanted to drop something off at our door and didn’t want to frighten us so early. I think Diane and I might have frightened her because we were still in our housecoats and not prepared to meet anyone.

I was just finishing my devotions and morning coffee when she arrived. She didn’t have time to stay long, but I invited her in and asked our daughter Diane if she was awake, because I knew she would like to see her cousin. They are similar in age and kind of grew up together. Diane was awake and loved spending time with Denise.

I wish I had thought to take a picture of her, but if you are interested and have Facebook, you can see her here: https://www.facebook.com/denise.richard.50. She recently returned from a mission trip to Costa Rica where she helped her daughter and son-in-law (who are missionaries there) with a youth camp. The children who came to the camp were all sponsored because they live in extreme poverty. Because we helped a bit to support her trip, she brought us coffee beans from Costa Rica. We had delicious coffee for breakfast today.

Our first appointment of the day was 10 am at LV Nails for pedicures (the kind with wonderful scrubs, massages, hot stones, and paraffin). I forgot to take pictures, probably because we had so much fun. I remembered to have Cerwin take a picture at the next stop – Mill 72. Don’t we look relaxed?

Diane is visiting from Maine, partly to be involved in my birthday experiences and partly to spend some time with their Pennsylvania daughters Abby and family and Lydia. Deb has about an hour drive to our area, so this was a very special treat for each of us.

Mill 72 met our lunch needs. We didn’t want to eat a lot because we wanted to be hungry for my evening birthday meal. Deb bought the above macaroons for the weekend.

Cerwin didn’t want to miss lunch with his daughters, so met us there. (If you notice the bruise on his forehead, it is from basal cell cancer surgery the other week.) The apple turnover was our appetizer. We cut it into four pieces.

The other three got specialty drinks and a slice of quiche. I had an affogato. I enjoy these about once a year, and usually in winter. Expresso and vanilla ice cream. As you can see, they use Fox Meadows ice cream.

After lunch we each went our own way. Deb went home. Diane did a bit of shopping, then spent the afternoon with Abby and the children. Cerwin and I came home and relaxed until evening.

My birthday treat to our children was a hibachi meal at Ichiban Japanese Steak & Seafood Restaurant. Deb took this picture. L to R: Roy, Diane, Jeff, Cerwin, Me, Kristen, and Jere. Everyone loves doing this at least once a year.

Our sweet waitress

Our delicious appetizer soup.

As always, our chef started with a spatula juggling demonstration.

Then the FIRE. This photo is when it was receding. The initial fire just filled the picture with an over-exposed yellow flash.

Next, he juggled a raw egg with his spatulas, then dropped it in his hat and pulled out this peep. Then fried the egg.

The vegetables

Preparing the onion volcano

This is when they sang happy birthday to me. You can hear at this link if you have Facebook. (4) Facebook

The veggies are soon ready.

I LOVE their fried rice.

Adding the meat. There was steak, chicken and shrimp. Each person received their meat of choice.

Our waitress brought a birthday cheesecake – then everyone sang Happy Birthday again.

I wanted to take a picture that included Deb (left). When a lady at the table next to us offered to take one that included each of us. She wasn’t pleased with this shot because Jeff was partially hidden, so she climbed up on a chair and took the next one.

Oh, what a fabulous crew. Love them more than they will ever know.

Back at home I took a few pictures of other birthday things that happened on Friday (or before).

My free birthday Cyclamen from Esbenshade’s Greenhouses – because I have a store card.

Candy, birdseed and a card from Deb

My birthday cards.

I thought I was finished with my birthday, then just as I was ready to post this, Diane, Lydia, Abby and her children came with more things. I will tell you about that in my next post.