Thanks Sharon and Andy!

Man, I seriously got behind on blog postings here. I've got pics from about a month ago that were supposed to get posted, but never did. Here's where I start trying to make up for that!

So I turned 41 this year. Blah.

But boy oh boy did it feel like there was a lot of celebrating! The weekend before my birthday we got together with Sharon and Andy for some fun. We started off by meeting Sharon at a restaurant supply store in Akron - this is something we'd talked about doing for over a year, and finally decided it was time to make it happen. Andy was still at work, so Sharon met us at the store, where we had fun perusing the shelves and buying things we probably didn't need, including a deep dish pizza pan, replacement serving spoons since the old dishwasher stripped the finish off our old spoons (so, yeah, we needed these), a 3/4 sheet pan, and more.

After that we went back to Sharon and Andy's house, met up with Andy, I got to open presents (which I already posted about awhile back), and then we went out to lunch. After lunch we drove to Menards to check out the amazing home improvement store we always hear about. I know I would've spent way more money if we'd gone a month or two later - it was still early in the season, and most of the yard/garden stuff wasn't out. (In fact, I think I'll be heading back out there with one of our neighbors in the next few weeks...)

More driving - back to Sharon and Andy's, where we had birthday ice cream cake that Sharon made - YUM!


And we got to play Five Crowns, which Sharon and Andy have me hooked on! Here you'll see I have a winning hand very early in the game...


Brett's distracting himself with beer and ice cream cake....what a winning combination.


I believe this was the first time Sharon beat me at Five Crowns. I chalk all my other wins up to beginners luck (only because I'm being polite).


Now things are getting more complicated. As the game progresses, you add one more card to your hand each round. If I remember right, you start with three cards, and by the time the game is over you have something like 13 cards in your hand? Definitely makes for a fun challenge! In the round you see below, 9s were the wild card (plus Jokers, which are always wild).


Thanks for a great birthday celebration Sharon and Andy!