Happy Birthday to Me.

I celebrated my birthday this year at Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour! It was different for me but I had lots of fun surrounded by family and friends. I have fond memories of visiting this restaurant when I was little. It went out of business but now it's back so I wanted to take my own family and create some fresh memories. One of the things they were famous for is singing happy birthday with a big, giant drum. Yep, they still do that!

I was in the mood to celebrate so I knew I would have fun. But, let me warn you...this place is like Chuck-E-Cheese ON CRACK! It's crazy loud. They use that drum for every.single.birthday.song! And the place is NOT that big so I can't tell you how many times that drum was beat right in my ear. They scream and yell across the restaurant telling jokes and singing. THey also run around with this giant bowl of ice cream on a stretcher. It's insane. They want you to join in the singing for every.single.birthday! Seriously. Kurtis was really having a great time, clapping and joining in. By the end, he had his hands over his ears and was shaking his head no! haha. We all kind of felt like that.

It was a weeknight so I still had classes during the day. They were also  having a blood drive at school. For some reason, I felt it appropriate to give blood on my birthday. I was feeling a little down because it wasn't the usual type of birthday I was used but the idea of giving back in some way...when you feel rather empty, made sense. And it actually gave back to me. I felt good doing something that would benefit someone else. I hadn't given blood in years. I still qualified, strong blood, healthy weight. I know I have a lot to be thankful for, the least of which is a life time of good health. It was the least I could do.

That's just iodine all over my arm to keep it sterile and clean. After I was finished and was at the snack table a girl totally fainted! She was completely passed out. It was a little freaky. I ate a snack then hopped on my bike to head home to celebrate.

We had to wait outside the restaurant for at least an hour before they could seat us. I had tried to make a reservation ahead of time but by the time they got back to me, they said all the reservations were taken but we were welcome to walk in. Here are my nephews and the ktbunch, waiting patiently outside.

In the end I had a wonderful birthday. Better than I expected. We might go back to Farrell's sometime but it definitely won't be at night. We'll go early when it is less crowded and less drum banging. haha.