One thing I can guarantee is that, if I am going to lie about my age, I will claim to be older than I am. Here's the reason. I think I look okay for 58. If I try to pass for 48, I don't look good at all. But if I say I'm 68, people will think I look damn good for that age.
On Thursday evening, we met Katy & Travis in Three Rivers so the girls could spend the weekend with us. We had dinner at Taqueria Vallarta. Three Rivers is pretty close to halfway between their home and ours. We have tried several restaurants over the years we've been meeting there to swap the kids. We've had a very hard time finding a place that we all like. We like Van's Barbecue and we stop there a lot. But they close early, so if we are meeting later in the evening it doesn't work. Plus, in the summertime, Travis' daughter Mady is usually with them. Mady is vegetarian which makes eating at a barbecue restaurant limited to potato salad and cole slaw. Even the beans are cooked with meat. Taqueria Vallarta was delicious! We'll definitely be stopping there again. Taqueria Vallarta has a 100% rating on Urban Spoon.
Our birthday celebrations were low key. On Friday we took the girls to Sears Portrait Studios for a portrait session. It was like herding cats. The photographer, Christy, was awesome. She was so patient with the girls. Princess E wasn't uncomfortable at all. She posed like a model and there are some really good shots of her alone. Unfortunately, Princess J (Her Highness) was not so comfortable. The studio was a place she'd never been before and she didn't know the photographer. She was scared and cried most of the time. She did finally get some pretty good shots. We went to Sears because we had a Groupon. For $35 we get one 10x13 portrait and six sheets which can be a variety of sizes and shots. Here's the one we ordered for my living room.
When we left the portrait studio, we stopped at The Cupcake Shoppe and picked up cupcakes for my birthday celebration. We came home and had lunch followed by cupcakes. There could not be anything better than having our two little princesses sing happy birthday and help blow out the candles. I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't take any pictures which is very unfortunate. Princess J had a pink strawberry cupcake which she squished between her fingers and smeared over her face and into her hair. It was awesome! Princess E had a white cupcake with sprinkles. Mine was white cake with chocolate frosting with sprinkles. Grandad abstained from cupcakes. His doctor has given him strict instructions to take off some weight. He's working hard at it and I'm proud of him. I know how hard that is and he's doing great!
We finished off the day by meeting our next-door neighbors for dinner at Railroad Seafood Station. We started with an avocado salad followed by fried shrimp served family style with a combination of sweet potato fries and regular fries. Their fried shrimp is my absolute favorite. It is very lightly battered and cooked just right. The princesses had dinosaur chicken nuggets with fries.
I will tell you more about the rest of our weekend later this week. I did finally get my camera in my hand so I could snap some photos of my own.
