Three Down, Two To Go

There are certainly benefits of coming from a family the size of a small country... For instance, you don't just have a birthday party, you get a birthday month when you're the spawn of the Nowhere family.

Lena and Paige have birthdays just a few weeks apart and it's been a cycle of celebrations since mid-September. It started back during our trip to Michigan. My grandparents are snow birds so on our final trip to Grand Haven before Christmas comes around we celebrated the girls' birthday with them. A week ago we celebrated with my Indiana family and this weekend we celebrated with the other half of my family up north in Aurora. Sadly, there was no getting out of work for Paige so she didn't get to go with for the lunch part, but Gramma sent back all sorts of goodies.

My step-mom is the birthday queen of our family tree and treated us all to an amazing lunch at a hibachi grill. Lena, being a long time member of this family, has been on several occasions. Her and my mom are kindred seafood spirits and they go to town on the poor unfortunate souls. They were in heaven with the shrimp, scallops, lobster, etc. Not being a huge seafood fan and given the fact that it requires sacrificing a few limbs to purchase, dinning on things that swim are a special treat for Lena.

Anne, on the other hand, is still learning the multitude of personalities in my family and how each one does things differently. She'd never been to a hibachi grill before. You'd think we'd just taken her to Disney World with how excited she got! She wanted to see every corner of the restaurant, wanted to use chop sticks, and didn't complain at all about trying new foods. That by itself is an exceedingly rare occasion. She was just so thrilled by the whole experience that she was willing to take in every moment and every bite of it. She was not however, very fond of them starting the grill...

Anne immediately shot backwards when he lit the oil and you'll notice her slowly schooching back toward the table. Overall all though, the whole family had a great time with Gramma and Auntie Pika. We even got a couple new pets to take home...

Now all we have left is Lena's slumber party with her girl friends this Saturday and birthday dinner / Thanksgiving with James' family next weekend. We're almost to the end... For a couple weeks at least!