Vacation: Day Two

The second day of my vacation was another event-filled one, and lots of fun. It started with the usual Sunday-morning coffee, paper, and conversation with the kids over breakfast while Mandi got up and ready for church. Upon our return home, I began finalizing what I have to come to realize is probably my greatest heist ever.

As many of you already know, Mandi's birthday is on July 4th and we typically celebrate with food, fireworks, water games, music, etc. It is always a memorable time, but one of the drawbacks to all of this is a lack of focused attention on Mandi and recognizing her birthday. She tends to get left in the shadows a bit, and while she would never complain, I have often wondered if we might figure out a different way to celebrate in order to shift the focus more on her. Since she will turn the big 3-0 this year, I wasn't about to allow this birthday to become secondary. In order to avoid such a tragedy, I called on one of Mandi's close friends and we set to work planning a surprise birthday party for her. Today was the big day, and it went off without a hitch.

Some time ago, Mandi had requested a couple's night out with a few of our friends as part of her birthday celebration. She mentioned the desire to eat at Grisanti's, which is a popular Italian restaurant in Lincoln, and home to the coveted peach bellini which she dearly loves. I used this request to set up the party and after talking to our friends, they all agreed to play their parts in the heist. Each person did a wonderful job of not "spilling the beans," and acting as if they were looking forward to our night out. My Mom arrived this afternoon to supposedly watch the kids, and I tricked Mandi into visiting a couple of hardware stores in search of some home improvement ideas while Mom packed up the kids and headed over to the party house. It all went very smooth, and the look on Mandi's face when she walked in and saw everyone was priceless.

We grilled burgers and hotdogs, ate my Mother-In-Law's famous macaroni salad, as well as fruit salad and other various munchies, and topped it all of with cake and ice cream. Lots of laughs, lots of memories, lots of love. Everyone had a great time, and Mandi seemed genuinely grateful for all of the attention. And, since we happened to be only a few blocks away from Grisanti's, I talked my Mom into taking the kids home while Mandi and I stopped for a peach bellini! Dare I say, it was a celebration fit for a beautiful, wonderful, and amazing 30-year-old!!