Surprise! It's Your Birthday!

Last night I surprised Walter with a birthday meal at the local Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse restaurant.  He had thought that the family bowling outing on Saturday was his birthday party. And it was, but I also wanted him to celebrate with other seniors.  We have a great group of friends from our church.  I filled the tables with twelve of them.  They were happy to be included.

I told Walter that one of the attendees was being surprised and he never suspected that we were really gathering for him.  Side note: we also celebrated her birthday too.  It would have just been rude not to celebrate for her too.  She jumped when the chef tricked her with a squeeze bottle turned towards her. Don't worry only a string came out, no sauce.

So we all met at 5:30 for the early bird specials.  This was in keeping with the theme - "You're 62, what are you going to do?"

Here are some pictures from last night.  We had two chefs so the cooking was finished at the same time.  We laughed at the tricks the chefs had for us.  They were great entertainment.



Guests Enjoying Their Soup & Salads

Flames at One of the Tables

Volcano Flames Through the Onions

Guests Interacting with the Chef

Chef Tosses Salt Into the Flames for Sparkle

Guests Eat the Great Habachi Food

Walter Will Have His Picture on the Restaurant Wall - Cake Not Visable Here

Guest Whose Birthday Was On the 28th Also Celebrated

Howard made a three layer red velvet cake for Walter.  It was delicious,  I was so busy trying to cut the cake into twelve portions that I failed to get a photo of it.  People also gave him cards and a round jigsaw puzzle.  He loved it all!

Before dessert was served we played a game of How Well Do You Know Walter.  I gave each guest a list of six questions.  The answers were multiple choice.  A good friend only got one answer correct, to which he said "I guess I don't know you at all".  Here are the questions.

Facts about Walter T., Sr.

1)      Walter’s middle name is

a)      Tommy

b)      Thomas

c)       Tilton

d)      Timmy

2)      His favorite NASCAR driver is

a)      Darrell Waltrip

b)      Jeff Gordon

c)       Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

d)      Kenny Wallace

3)      His favorite service done recently through church

a)      Building ramps

b)      Serving as a deacon

c)       Giving financial advice to a couple in debt

d)      Sharing about his sobriety

4)      What craft did he most recently finish?

a)      Latch hook rug

b)      Bird puzzle

c)       Lord’s Supper puzzle

d)      Wooden playhouse

5)      What past experience did he enjoy the most?

a)      Running his own real estate office

b)      Assistant cruise director

c)       Bowling with his grandchildren

d)      Giving 5 gallons of blood

6)      Why did he lose his leg?

a)      Car accident

b)      Military causality

c)       Shot by a jealous husband

d)      Hunting accident

I will not give you the answers.  You just have to imagine the correct answers.  The last question caused some good natured teasing.  On the way out the guest blew bubbles of good wishes towards Walter.  That was just something from his childhood that he enjoyed so I decided to end his "childhood of 61 years" by blowing bubbles.  One of my favorite memories of this evening will be the 81 year old woman guest who out blew all the others and her laughter was glorious.  We were all children again last night if only in our minds.  God is good! 

Bowling with the Family

When we started thinking about celebrating Walter's birthday, I knew we wanted something special.  It was his 62th birthday, or as our friend Dorothy Jean says, "The Social Security birthday!".  I considered having the family over to our house.  We do this a lot so I decided not to host the party as so much preparation is required for cleaning the house, creating a menu and then the cooking and the clean-up afterward.

I looked into using the YMCA for a swimming party.  The party room rent was medium priced and we would have the pool for an hour.  We discussed it and decided against it as Walter nor I actually swim.  Only the children and grandchildren would enjoy the pool.

So we looked around for something else that would be fun for Walter but also hold the attention of the rest of the family.  When we started dating about 25 years ago, Walter was on a company bowling league.  He enjoyed it then and occasionally still bowls.  I visited the local lane and found we could rent 3 lanes for an hour of bowling, which included shoe rental, pizza, and soft drinks.  We also could bring in our own cake.  For 14 people that was perfect for us!  It also was priced lower than any other venue.  So off to bowling we went.

Here are some pictures of our day and us having fun.

Gift Bags for Grandchildren Holding Candy, Stickers, Pen and Note Pads & Crayons

Birthday Boy, Walter, Before We Leave for the Party

When we started bowling, whenever anyone scored a strike, we took a picture of them with a silly reaction.  We really had a swell time striking poses.  No one was super competitive.  We just enjoyed being together as a family.


Martha Celebrates Her First Strike



Chandler Shows Good Form



Tracy Rolls a Ten Pound Ball

Walter Rolls a Strike



Chris Poses the Most Goofy After Scoring a Strike

Tommy Smiles About His Strike

Kash is About to Bowl, Aunt Tracy Encourages Him

Keith is Happy After His Strike

Brandy Gives Two Thumbs Up
 

Brandon Shows Hands Up Pose

Austin is Happy About His Score

We paused for pizza and cupcakes.  I had made spice cupcakes.  When Tracy took her first bite she said she remembered when they were little that I used to make them spice cake.  I did bake them applesauce spice cakes, so I was glad to know she remembered that from her childhood.

Walter Blows Out the Candles

I made 24 cupcakes and only had to take home a couple of them.  They will be good in lunches this week.

Nola Singing the "Happy Birthday" Song to Her Grandpoppie

Heather Gives a Beautiful Smile

Tommy Tries to Get Excited About the Singing - Not!

Martha is Glad the Family is Enjoying Themselves

Walter was extremely happy about the outing and afterward I was glad to just kick back and look at the pictures rather than facing any clean up!  Everyone wins.  God is good.

Senior Adult Game Day Party

The year started off very nicely.  We finally got a return card sent to everyone who had sent us Christmas well wishes.  I made bookmarks with our picture on them for all the ones who sent us cards after December 25th.  I thought that would be a thoughtful way to wish them a happy new year.


Walter and I Arriving for Game Day at Church

We had a reason to party this weekend.  All the senior adults in our church gathered to play games and eat chili together.  We had a time to visit together and hear about what was happening in each others' lives.  One of the joys of my retirement has been that I have learned to take my time when talking to someone.  No longer do I allow myself to hurry through my conversations because I am thinking of the next item on my to-do list.  Relationships are vital to my happiness and probably my health.  If you ask a senior a question, if you can allow yourself to listen, you may learn a great deal.


Howard and Robert Taste the Goodies

I made a double batch of my chili and I didn't have to bring any of it home.  All was eaten.

Seniors Play SkipBo



Gamers Were Too Busy to Notice the Camera

I Discuss Mexican Train Strategies with Betsy and Dodie

We brought unused gifts for the game prizes.  We had a couple of usable good items that I wrapped up as pretty as I could and took them to the party.  I thought this was a great way to get rid of items that were just too good to toss, but that we would probably never use.






Pinochle Players

Red Hats Society

Me in Red Hat with Kathy and Two New Friends

A few years back I joined the Red Hat Society. This is a group of ladies who are over fifty. They dress in red and purple and usually meet somewhere for a luncheon and good fun. I stopped meeting with them when I went back to work.



Some of the Ladies I Enjoyed at Lunch Today

Now that I am not working, I  decided to join up with them again. Today we went to Longhorn Restaurant for their soup and salad specials.  There were 19 ladies, all from various areas and past occupations. 












Queen Mother Tish Celebrates with Kate as She Received a Birthday Card for her 80th

Two ladies there were celebrating birthdays.

Kate was turning 80 and Polly is 90!

Polly is a Fabulous 90

They both look great. What an inspiration! They are sharp and feisty. I want to be interested in people and willing to get out of the house to have fun with others when I reach that age.

Peggy Sue and Betty Add to the Fun

Keep it up sweet ladies. God is good!

A December Recap & Happy New Year

The month of December was busy here.  We had many Christmas parties and events at our church.  We sang in both the Saturday and Sunday Living Nativity events.  This was totally new for our church and many people from the community visited.  An 18-month old camel was brought in for the nativity set along with goats and sheep. We sang several carols those two nights.

Additionally, we went caroling to several of our shut-in members.  That is always a satisfying use of our time.  It adds so much to our enjoyment of the season.  When we returned to the church we were welcomed in from the cold with cookies and apple cider!  That was a nice touch.

We spent Christmas afternoon seeing "Parental Guidance" at the local cinema.  Then we came home and had three of our children and their families plus extended family for supper, followed by the Dirty Santa game we love to play.  It was a good time and we gave the grandchildren gifts that we think they liked.

The day after Christmas we packed the car and drove 473 miles to Gulf Shores, AL.  Although cold, we found many things to occupy our time.  We picked up shells on the beach, watched locals fishing from the pier, ate at Lambert's, a place that threw the rolls to you from across the room, shopped at the Tanger Outlets, and caught "Guilt Trip" at the local cinema.  The next day we took the ferry to Dolphin Island, traveled north to Mobile, ate at Blue Gill along the water's edge, and did some antique shopping in Foley.  The next day we drove into Pensacola for more antique shopping, found the dog racing track and had dinner and dancing at Pace's Country Show for the evening entertainment.  Sunday we drove home in about seven and a half hours.  All in all a busy four days!

We spent New Year's Eve at a friends house.  Twelve of us ate snacks and played Pictionary until the ball dropped in Times Square, a completely fun way to welcome in the year.

Happy New Year to all our friends and family.  Tomorrow we have to go back to work and our regular schedules.  God is good!