Happy Birthday to me!

Wow! We've been celebrating my birthday since last Saturday, when we had a wonderful day/ evening at Rod and Sharon's house for our June birthdays (including Megan, Lauren, and me, all on June 24th!!) Then, on Sunday evening, Natalie and I went on a very special "girl's night".
I drove out to Matt and Natalie's (in Ray's new car! - gas conservation!), and Natalie took me out in her new convertible! This was very special, since we used to go out, often, with the wind blowing in our hair, in her little convertible Mitsubishi Spider - back when we first became buddies in 2000- 2001! Oh, my, we have lots of memories of those days - she used to come spend time with me, when she was single, I was very busy with little ones, and we were going through lots of troubled times. We used to visit, work on our scrapbooks, and, well, just have a good time being each other's friend (little did we know how much it would mean to both of us, as the years went by!!) So, anyway, back to our recent adventure(!) We got on the freeway, headed for the beach. We weren't sure where we'd end up, but we knew we wanted to dine at the beach somewhere. It turned out to be a great night for parking. We got a prime spot in the off-Main-Street parking structure, and headed for the local, trendy dining spots. The first place we visited was definitely not what we were looking for, since we like to "talk" during our meal. It was very loud, and wild-looking. We went across the street, upstairs, to the Huntington Beach Beer Co., where they had a decently priced, pasta-driven menu. Sounded good to both of us! We had a lovely dinner, with a great view of the Huntington Beach Main Street, and the Pacific Ocean! (Ray photo-shopped that darling picture of Natalie, so you could see the view from where we ate!)
So, after dinner, I found out Natalie had never been on the Balboa Island Ferry!! That is something that everyone living in So Cal should experience at least once!! It was so cool to be in her convertible, (you can see more of the bay, and everything!) and hear her say, "This is so weird, to be in my car, and feel us moving across the water!!" There we were, water all around us, heading toward the famous ferris wheel that marks the Balboa Peninsula!! Then, it was the drive home. Lucky for you, we don't have pic's of that! The traffic was TTerrible, with a double, capital T!! Poor Natalie, had to be up at the crack of dawn to drive to Corona for work in the morning! I just had to drive home from her house. We had such a nice evening, and a very memorable celebration of my 43rd birthday.

Can you see the water behind us? There we are, on the ferry! The lights in the background are from the houses, on the Balboa Peninsula!! If you really look, you can see the lights, being reflected in the water!! So, we drove off the ferry, onto the peninsula, and ended up on the (dreaded) Newport Blvd. It was bumper to bumper, until we got on the 55 freeway, headed toward the 5. Classic Southern California.




Monday was a blur. Kyle had spent the night, Sunday night, and, what a blessing! He helped us so much! We took down the pop-up pool, because it had several leaks in it, and made a new, more level foundation for our new, 10' x 30" pool. We barely finished setting that up, when Kacia came home from all her school/jobs, and we all loaded up in the van, to spend the evening with the Winbergs (oh, and to bring their son back home!) We had a nice dinner, and swam for a while in their beautiful, new back yard! We told stories, and talked about being considerate of other people's feelings/trying to find ways to not hurt people's feelings.
Tuesday was my actual birthday. As Kacia already reported, most of the day was spent on chores and errands. There are, seriously, way too few hours in a day for the amount of work I need to get done!! But, we ended up having a superb dinner in our newly refurbished back yard area!! Lukas helped prepare the london broil. He even clipped fresh thyme from our garden, and washed it!! We had a recipe for "grilling with Dad" - butter thyme steak. Oh, my, it was wonderful! Everyone pitched in, in some way, and we ate outside on our patio, with my new iPod player dishing up some mellow tunes in the background. I am very thankful for my family, and all the blessings God has given us! I had a truly wonderful birthday/days!!! I also received some very special cards and phone calls to top off the sweetness of the day!

Fun, Food, Friends, Family --
What better way
To spend a special day?
--------
Live life with love,
Live life with laughter,
But most of all,
Live for the ever-after.

Love, Rechelle