Over the past ten days, Johnny and I have each aged. My 36th birthday came and went without much fanfare on the 23rd. I worked a regular day, but stopped for a half-price massage over lunch break. After work the family gathered at a new local restaurant called HiWings for some Korean fried chicken. Later that night while out walking the dog I ran into the neighbors the Plumpes who were on their way to pick up Jardin Corona takeout, so I tagged along and was surprised with a birthday song, sombrero, and dessert at the bar.
On Saturday the 25th was Johnny’s fourth birthday party featuring the gigantic inflatable water slide! When you figure what we spent last year to have a party at someplace like the Thinkery, renting a giant slide for the weekend is a steal! A couple dozen people gathered in our yard for some wet ‘n wild fun. The slide was a huge hit, injuries and all—and there were a lot of injuries. Kids slamming into each other one after the other. But everyone recovered quickly and was right back to sliding. The slide rental was a great success, and we got to keep it for about 48 hours so we had some bonus play time to ourselves. The grass under the slide got absolutely killed though. Johnny got quite a haul of birthday presents from his guests and more that came in the mail from family.
On Sunday we joined the Megos and celebrated Brian and my birthdays, both 8/23, at a very authentic Chinatown dim sum restaurant. I had never done dim sum before, but it was a Chinese brunch where they push carts around and serve small trays of various foods. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. I accidentally ordered a plate of tripe which I thought was some noodle dish.
And then on Johnny’s actual birthday, the 29th, he chose birthday dinner at “the rice and beans place”, Jardin Corona, again with our friends the Megos. No arguments here! Johnny saw someone else being sung to for their birthday, so he requested we tell the staff to sing to him too. Naturally, he got a little shy when the whole restaurant’s focus turned to him.
Happy birthdays all around in 2018!
Ryan Glanzer Blog 