My Birthday!

A few weeks ago I turned thirty-something, and had a great birthday celebration over several days.  First, on the day before my birthday, I made it into the church good news announcements after mass, thanks to the girls.  Then, Mom & Dad C. came up to visit, and we watched MSU b-ball, went bargain shopping at Staples (yay for free things!), and went seed shopping at Bordines.  It was quite the fun afternoon!  We went out to dinner for sushi, and the girls devoured roll after roll after roll.  We made a note to ourselves that when we go back, we better give the girls a snack beforehand so we don't have to order more and more for them!  It was Mom C's first time trying sushi, and she really liked it, of course.

Chris made me this cake, chocolatey and gooey in the middle!  He put the candles far apart so it would be harder to blow out, but I managed just fine, despite my advanced years.

On my actual birthday, the girls were off school, and Chris took the day off work.  Plus it was Family Free Day at the Henry Ford Museum, so that's where I wanted to go for my birthday.  (I heart museums, esp free ones!)

Girls by the wiener mobile

 A real highlight was getting to see and sit on Rosa Parks' bus.  Katie & Megan have learned about her in school, and they were in awe that they got to sit in the exact seat on the exact bus that she was on!  There was a neat audio tape of her telling her story, in her own words.  Amazing.

We also spent a lot of time in the planes section of the museum.  There were sooo many cool ones to admire!  And we each made our own paper airplane and tested it out:

The paper airplanes made their way home and have spawned dozens of replicas.  The girls have spent several afternoons perfecting their paper airplane techniques since then.  Each plane gets a name and a design, then is logged into their records, and undergoes many test flights.  Then it gets a rating of how well it flew.  I'm so proud of my little scientists!  :)

We wandered all through the car section of the museum, admiring the cool cars.  But we were on a mission to find a Mustang for Grandpa!  Can you believe this was the only Mustang in the whole stinking museum?  He was so disappointed!  Have you written Bill Ford yet, Dad??

I wanted to see the trains, and we got to go into the engine room of an enormous steam engine.  It was insanely huge!  The girls got a turn at the controls:

Us in front of the train

We were getting tired, so we sat for a while to watch a kid's production about American Tall Tales after the trains.  The rest was much needed after a long day of walking.  It was a really fun way to spend the day!  My dream birthday...my family and a museum!  :)

After the museum, we had a few hours to rest before we picked up a friend's daughter to babysit the girls so we could go out for the night.  Chris took me to see Van Halen at the Palace!!  He bought the tix very last minute, but somehow got fantastic seats.  And he met up with a co-worker who had connections to a suite, so we mingled with the elite crowd in the suite before and after the concert.  Yay for free food and drinks!  The concert was great, they sounded really good.  What a fun birthday this year!