Happy Birthday America! (And Happy 30th to me!)

Today I have had a fabulous 30th birthday. Emily made me Peanut Butter M&M pancakes for breakfast. One was even shaped like an 'N'. Then I opened my presents from Abe and Banjo. Abe got me a 2-player Settlers of Catan card game (so now Emily and I can get our Settlers fix while we don't have any guests). Banjo gave me a book about a man and his dog as they walked the 800-mile Alaska Pipeline one summer. Emily's gift is still in the mail. Then we did a nice hike at South Fork Eagle River. And for dinner we had pulled-pork sandwiches (with homemade BBQ sauce), homemade coleslaw and potato salad, and corn. I even played a little DJ Hero that I bought with my birthday money from Jeanne. And I received many birthday well-wishes from friends and family. It was a great 30th birthday!!!!


Emily calls this, "Tired Yankke-Doodle"Check out that stylish backpack!
By the time Emily was carrying Abe, he was pretty tired.

I thought it would be fun to think back to all of my past birthdays and reminisce about where I was on past birthdays, what I've done, and what some of my favorite presents were.

1987 - Family reunion in Black Hills, South Dakota. I got some cool Transformers. And went to Mount Rushmore.

1988 - I got a bike AND a Nintendo. Pretty much the coolest birthday ever, presents wise.

1989 - For my friend birthday party, we saw UHF at a theater downtown that is now a Banana Republic. And I had a sleep-over. Lots of fun.

1990 - Went to see the fireworks at Gasworks. And had Ezel's Fried Chicken for my birthday dinner. It was a lot of fun b/c I got to stay up past midnight (since it took so long to get home after the fireworks b/c of all of the traffic).

1991 - I was in Chico Hotsprings, Montana for another family reunion. Had lots of fun playing with my cousins. And I pushed the neighbor lady from "The Hogan Family" around on a Merry-go-round, b/c she was filming "A River Runs Through It" nearby.

1992 - Had a neighborhood party at Ravenna Park. But it absolutely POURED (like many a 4th).

1993 - I think this summer Scott worked as an ice-cream man. For my birthday he got me WWF Royal Rumble for the SNES. My brother and I spent many hours playing that game together. He said he paid for it with nothing but 1's and change - and it was like $70!

1994 - World Cup - USA vs. Brazil. I watched the game with my Dad and Scott (my Mom had to work). After we watched the game we saw 'Blow Away' in the theater (pretty bad movie). Had burgers for dinner, and Scott made guacamole.

1995 - Medora, North Dakota. We were in Chico again for another family reunion, and afterward we kept going east. We were suppose to see some fancy play with horses and whatnot in Medora. But they canceled that show b/c it was so rainy and wet - too dangerous for the horses. That was all fine with me, b/c I just really wanted to play Pinocle with Scott, Dad and my Grandma Dorothy (which is what we did).

1996 - Long Beach, WA. This is where Scott was working. It was crazy along the beach - people lighting fireworks off like crazy. There was smoke everywhere. And we saw 'Independence Day'.

1997 - Went to Tony Roma's with my Mom and Dad for some ribs. Then I went to my friend Bill Hope's house (with Teddy and Karl) to light off boat-loads of fireworks.

1998 - ???

1999 - What I remember about this birthday is that while I was working at Video Update, my high school friends came by to drop off my present. But I had to go out to the parking lot to receive it, because it wasn't very appropriate (i.e. - pornography. They gave me pornography).

2000 - I think this was my first birthday celebrated on The 'Juan (San Juan Island). We went to the parade in Friday Harbor, which was real cool b/c the UW marching band was there. Then we went to Roach Harbor for some Fish 'n Chips, look at all the expensive yachts, and watch the dounut eating contest. And I got a Gameboy Advanced.

2001 - I turn 21! But I celebrate by waiting in line at the ferry to go to the Island with Scott. My Dad said there was an 11:30Pm boat - there wasn't. The next one didn't come until 5:30am. So my brother did what any great older brother would do - he took me to an Indian casino and I watched him shoot craps!

2002 - Ketchum/Sun Valley/Hailey, Idaho. I got to spend my birthday with my Aunt Val and cousin Jim. It was real fun watching the fireworks at night.

2003 - My first birthday with Emily (sort of). My family went to the Island for the 4th, so Emily and celebrated before we left. We went to see 'Spellbound', and she gave me a baseball (that showed how to grip it differently to throw different pitches) and a brownie. Around this time we were laying our 800-square foot deck made of paver stones. My whole family worked our tail off laying that sucker - but we took the 4th off, because I've never worked on my birthday.

2004 - More parade and dounut-eating fun on the 'Juan. Emily came along. She got me an M's hat, tickets to a game, a bag, seat cushions, and a score card.

Dog park break.

2005 - Up on the 'Juan with Emily and my family. Emily got me a cool USA Men's National Team soccer hat, which I sported at the World Cup the next year in Germany.

2006 - Scott and I had just returned home from the World Cup. We celebrated up on the Island, during the day. Emily was in China with her family. I actually went back down to Seattle the night of the 4th b/c my first day of work at Amgen was on the 5th. Which meant I was able to go to Teddy's 4th of July party at his family's apartment, which is about 4 blocks from the Vine Maple.

2007 - First birthday as a married man. We all went up to the 'Juan to celebrate. And Emily's parents came up for the day as well.

2008 - First birthday in Alaska! Emily's family was visiting, and we drove to Homer that day. Hannah bought me a bottle of whiskey. I was a month removed from my jaw surgery, so when we stopped for lunch at Subway, all I could have was their clam chowder. (HINT: Do not get the clam chowder at Subway)

2009 - Emily, Banjo and I had a picnic up at the loop by the parking lot for Flattop. We went to a baseball game at night - and someone hit a grand slam in the first inning.

The family gathering 'round for a tasty birthday/4th of July dinner.
Now that's a 4th of July meal - corn on the cob, cole claw, potato salad, and pulled-pork sandwiches. Yumm........
Abe helped me blow out my candle (we had to improvise a bit). That key-lime pie sure was good.