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We survived another St. Patrick’s Day in Ocean View and had a blast doing so.  We could NOT have asked for better weather for the day - 66 and sunny all day!  We got down to the parade to kick things off pretty early and met up with some friends to tailgate, cracking our first beers for the day around 10am.  We also had a jug of pre-made “red-headed slut” shots to enjoy in between beers during the parade.  We hung out at a friend’s house for a bit after the parade chit-chatting and drinking beers, before heading to our hotel to drop stuff off and check in.  From there, we walked down to Dena’s daughter’s house.  Cristin was having a party complete with kegs, jell-o shooters and FOOD!

After a few more beers and several rounds of jello-shooters, we picked up Dena and Heidi and started the trek down to Greenies for more beer and partying.  Greenies was BEYOND packed this year.  It was CRAZY!  Complete madness and awesome at the same time!

Did I mention how GORGEOUS it was outside?  We could not get enough of it!  We hung out at Greenies for a bit, then made the next trek from Greenies to The Thirsty Camel!  Personally, this is my favorite place to go on this particular day.  I always have the most fun here.

This is where my brother met up with us and the insanity set in.  Billy quickly did a large quantity of shots to “catch up” to us and then had us all laughing our asses off.  This is also where I met up with the Sheriff’s Deputy that was on duty last year and TOTALLY remembered me!  Dena and I spent about an hour hanging out with him in his corner between the bar and the entrance to the outdoor tented area.  We proceeded to ask every person that walked through that doorway to see their ID and told them we needed to pat them down.  They looked at us with beers in our hands and looked at him and he said “you better let them do it if you want to get in…” - AWESOME!  Then he left us for a while to take care of things on our own.  I was DYING.

One of the people that we frisked coming in the door was a woman with Downs Syndrome… who was DRINKING HER ASS OFF.  I was shocked - and I was DRUNK.  Completely shocked… but not as shocked as this:

When my brother challenged her to a dance off.  I AM DEAD SERIOUS.  Who the hell does that????  I mean a circle formed around them and they kept taking turns popping and locking and break dancing, then high-fiving each other.  I was peeing my pants I was laughing so damn hard!

After The Thirsty Camel, we headed to another bar called Captain Ron’s to see a friend of our’s band play.  Nadine, Big Kev and Billy played some darts - very emotional darts.

We did A LOT of dancing… a lot more drinking and then my brother took it to the next level…

We had so much fun.  By the end of the night, my cheeks hurt so bad from laughing it was giving me a headache.  We got back to the hotel around 12:30.  WE MADE IT PAST MIDNIGHT!!!  We were so damn proud of that fact.  Somehow, I got up the next morning at 6am with ZERO hangover, showered, met up with the clan and we all headed to breakfast at the Silver Diner.  Another AMAZING year down in Ocean View.  Cannot wait until next year!!!

Here are all the photos from the day:

As I have mentioned in the past (here and here), every year, the best part of your birthday is getting my brother Billy’s Birthday card.  This birthday was no exception… so without further ado, I present Billy’s 2011 Birthday Card to me:

Unrelated to my Birthday card from Billy, but related to notes in general from family members, Kaiden has not paid her Aunt Kelly the $5 that she owes her for their Super Bowl bet yet, and she received a note in the mailbox the other day from her Aunt Kelly in Florida reminding her of that fact…. and of course, because Aunt Kelly can NEVER let Ashton feel left out, he too had an addressed and stamped envelope with a note from Aunt Kelly:

And just to make sure that Kaiden did not think that the “K” on the stationary stood for “Kaiden,”  Kelly made sure to clarify that it stands for “Kelly Rules!”

So this past Sunday was my birthday.  I am now officially half way through my 30’s, and I have to say, I am not feeling so bad about it.  I had a great birthday.  On the Friday before my birthday my co-worker Bill spoiled me rotten, since he would not see me over the weekend.

First he had flowers delivered to me at work, which were adorable and made me very happy!

Then he gave me a goodie bag filled with all my favorite snacks - Mike and Ike’s, Skittles, Lindt Dark Chocolate, Teriyaki Beef Jerky and Pistachios.  Then he also included some funny joke items, like fresh batteries for my “toys,” Serenity Bladder Control Pads since I am getting so old now and may not be able to make it to the bathroom and some good chapstick, since my lips are ALWAYS chapped from running this winter.  It was awesome!  He is a great co-worker!

Saturday night Todd and the kids took me out for my favorite dinner… Japanese Steak House.  They got me some great gift cards for pedicures and to stock my Kindle with some new books.  Then after dinner, I met Dena, my brother, Nadine and Kevin and Ashton’s girlfriend Heidi among others for some birthday cocktails.  Dena got me an awesome sand repelling beach towel for this summer and a cooler bag for the beach - LOVED that she got me that stuff, it made me happy for warmer weather!  Nadine and Kev got me a buttload of Lottery Tickets, Heidi brought me flowers and my brother had his yearly birthday card for me.  I forgot to bring that in to scan - I’ll have to do that tomorrow.

We met up at our local dive, Judy’s Pub, that we always go to and I was surprised when I walked in and the whole bar was decorated for my birthday.  It was awesome, although I am not quite sure yet whether that should be considered a good or a bad thing.  Good that I am liked enough for them to do it, or bad that I am known well enough in there for them to do it?  I am going with good!  :cheers:

Sunday night I celebrated with my family by having a delicious marinated Filet Mignon dinner followed by my mom and Kaiden’s attempt at making cake pops.  It was a great evening.

It was a great birthday weekend and I am blessed with great friends and family!

So, Ashton has completely memorized the above Family Guy segment and for weeks now, every time we are sitting for dinner, or sitting quietly in general, he starts in with it, chuckling under his breath…  “Can I see that paper for a sec? Huh, that’s odd. I thought that would be big news.  Well, there seems to be an absence of a certain ornithological piece. A headline regarding mass awareness of a certain avian variety.  Oh, have you not heard? It was my understanding that everyone had heard…”  then he starts in with the “Bird is the Word” dancing, which he has also memorized both the song and the dance moves.  Kaiden cracks up every time, I cracked up for a while, but now, now it is like ENOUGH!!!!  I love that boy, but sometimes his memorization skills are enough to drive you completely MAD!