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October 26th. My birthday!!  But it was last Saturday that I had a surprise birthday party.

Rich arranged it at Tavern on the Lake, a place we’ve gone to for years — back when it was The Great American Saloon & Eatery, then the Court Jester, then Theo’s, and now Tavern on the Lake.  It’s in downtown Hightstown.

When I went into the dining room, everyone had their menus up, which was rather strange.

As the menus came down, a “surprise” was shouted.

Notice the arms crossed in front of my body?  I’m looking at my friend Terri.  I just had dinner with her, and I was grilling her as to whether I was having a party.  “I really don’t know,” she said.  Hmmmm  But she’s the coolest friend, so I forgive her.

That’s Terri on the left, Valentina in the middle, and Carol on the right.  All are friends from The Parkinson Alliance.  Carol is the ever awe-inspiring CEO of the Alliance.

Then I realized Derry was there!  He flew all the way in from England earlier in the day for the party!  And, he had tickets to a concert and to a game at Wembley Stadium coming up, yet he still made it!!  And, yes, that is tears in his eyes.

My niece and god-daughter Mylissa and her new baby Alexis.

My nephew Steven.

Caylinn, my neice Amy’s daughter.

She is such a sweetie!

Mylissa’s husband Neil, mom, and baby Alexis.

Mom.

After everyone ate, we headed over to mom’s house to carry on with the party.  And, birthday girl – well old lady – had a lot of gifts to open!

Of course we had the Yankees/Angels game on, and that’s Mike bowing to the Yankees!

It was time to open gifts!!  Everyone being together was my gift.  Opening presents was a bonus.  Rich gave me his gift, wrapped in paper with sheep on it.  It felt like a book, and I had no idea what it was.  The Yankee bear watched over my shoulder.

A trip to the Florida Keys!  Wow!!

Time for cake!  From left to right, Bonnie, Mike, Amy, Caylinn, and Jaidon.

Yummmmy

Hmmm … somebody likes icing!

And being tickled (notice Jeter on the TV?)

Derry has been awake for at least 24 hours, and he needs to sleep rather than watching the ball game!

Jaidon and me.  Jaidon is Amy and Joe’s.

Mike, my brother, and Skylar, Jaidon’s brother.  Sky is also Amy and Joe’s.

My nephew Steven and me.

My brother-in-law Rich and my sister MaryAnn.  Mylissa, Amy, and Steven are their children.  Alexis, Sky, Jaidon, and Caylinn are their grandchildren.

Jay, Steven, Bonnie, Mike, Amy, Caylinn, Rich, me, and sitting to my right are MaryAnn, Ken (Rich’s best buddy), mom, and Derry, behind them from the left are  Joe, Mylissa, and Alexis, and standing behind them is Rich (my sister’s Rich).

Rich, a very happy me, and Derry!

This entry was posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 1:06 am and is filed under Misc. Personal, photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.