Cynthia turns 40!
September 18, 2021
Everybody came together to celebrate 40 years of Cynthia on Earth. Amazingly, almost no one took any pictures. But we managed to scrape a few photos together to show that we did get together for the weekend event. That first night, Saturday, we all went to Saltgrass Steakhouse & Saloon for a family dinner. To the left, Erica is enjoying her "enhanced" frozen margarita and the the right, Michelle is starting with a bloody Mary. Of course, Cynthia started with her favorite, a cucumber martini, but no picture was taken of the birthday girl. But we had a great dinner and a lot of laughs to start of the evening.
Then is was home for the usual cutting of the cake and pile of presents. Andrew outdid himself by bringing not one, but two, delicious cakes from Carlos' Bakery where "Cake Boss" Buddy Valastro's bakery is known for a variety of cookies, cannoli & elaborate cakes. We then had to discuss which cake was the best and even though I love carrot cake, the white and chocolate cake was really scrumptious.
All 4 of the grandkids got presents that day. Stella got a Pooh bear. To the right is Sophia banging out a tune on her new xylophone. Kevin got two presents and we quickly regetted buying him that one that shot out nerf darts. They were suppose to be soft but still stung quite a bit. The other girls got a small gift also. Not shown in any photos, but present, included Andrew & Sylvia who joined in the festivities. Noah and Jay also were there and had many tense dart games with Jordan. Alas, Jordan prevailed and won most of them. Later when we started playing "Cyndy's Birthday" for my birthday girl, Jordan and Michelle put on a dance to the song for Cynthia. It got a little out of control when Sylvia and I joined in. Cynthia liked my dance the best. (She didn't say it in actual spoken words but a Dad knows these things innately.)
The next night we went to BJs before Michelle and Sophia had to leave town. Realizing that we took few pictures the night before, I made sure that we took some that night. These photos were complements of Jordan's iPhone camera. The group had a great time and fortunately, we had a fun, lively waitstaff person who shared in the laughs.
We finally got back to the house at about 8:00 on Sunday and helped Michelle pack her car so she could leave when suddenly, Michelle realized that she couldn't find her keys. Using a flashlight, she realized that she locked them in the car with the bags. After failed attempts and some panic, we eventually called a locksmith to open the door to retrieve the keys for us. Michelle was delayed about an hour but safely got home about midnight that night. All's well, that ends well, I guess.
And the great news... we get to do it all over again in another 40 years!!!