DAY NINE .. SOMEONE HAS A BIRTHDAY!!!

February 18, 2014 .. Sydni  Paige Carpenter's 10th birthday!!   President's Day is over so the girls will be in school and we won't see them until evening .. we also won't see Oceanna until evening for she had to work .. not only did she have to work .. but she had to be there at 5:00 AM .. YIKES!!!   

 

A couple of pics from the subdivision Tim and Krysti made their home in ..

 



Love the Palm Trees .. and the blue blue sky!!!

 

 

Don't know what that bush of Purple flowers is but it is beautiful!!

Notice the GREEN grass and beautiful blue sky .. in February!!! 

Another picture of the beautiful Portasporium plant!! 

Tim has the landscaping business but he said Krysti did as much of the landscaping here as he did!!! 

I wasn't very happy with the yellowness of the pictures I took yesterday .. so here we go again .. LOL!!

Tim had a story to tell about how he acquired this beautiful piece of antique furniture .. he and Krysti both had stories about a lot of the "treasures" they had found  .. I should have recorded them for I enjoyed them all and would love to be able to tell them to you but sadly my memory has failed me again!!  

Tim refinished this old dry sink cabinet after he got it!! 

I can't tell you how much I loved looking around this house and how at home I felt!! 

And then we venture out the backdoor to their backyard "jungle" hut!!  Tim created this thatch-roofed hideaway for the girls  and their friends to play in!! 

 

This contraption is for starting fires without matches and without rubbing two sticks together .. check it out in the video ..

Sorry .. I didn't stop to think that I was taking a video and should NOT turn the camera sideways .. DUHHHHH!!!  It's still neat to watch .. LOL!!!

Are you through taking pictures so we can go yet????  We're HUNGRY!!! 

Off we went for Breakfast .. Ken driving and Tim in the front seat to give directions .. Krysti and I in the back.  After a discussion as to where we should go for Breakfast it was decided to go to Perkins Restaurant.  Ken said they used to have one of these restaurants in St. Louis but it wasn't there any more.

As you can see I had stopped worrying about calories .. after all .. this is our vacation!!!  

Look at all these goodies .. Yummmmm!!!  No .. we didn't buy any .. just looked and drooled!!

 

A couple of pics of the scenery ..  Palm Trees .. beautiful blue sunny skies ..

 
and beautiful blue Ocean!!!

 

 

We spent so much time visiting at the house and at the restaurant that we didn't have much time left for "treasure hunting" but we did stop at the local Salvation Army and  Goodwill stores .. sad to say none of us found anything exciting to brag about but we had fun looking!!  I bought  a pair of New Balance tennis shoes at Goodwill for $6.99 .. Ken got a long sleeve shirt at Salvation Army for $4.99 or something like that!!  You'll hear more about the tennis shoes later .. LOL!! 

 

After giving up on finding "treasures" we picked up a Birthday Cake for the Birthday Girl and headed home to get the celebration going!!  Krysti, Sydni and I went Birthday shopping leaving Ken, Tim, Oceanna and Summer home to do the decorating and preparations for the party!!  

 

First stop for birthday shopping was Barnes and Noble where she was happy  to find  a book she had been wanting!!  Next stop was Toys R Us where she also found some birthday goodies but Grandma failed to get a picture of that stop .. I know .. hard to believe .. LOL!!  

SURPRISE .. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 

 

While we were having fun shopping .. the others had been very busy blowing up balloons and making the house birthday beautiful!!  And 3 of Sydni's neighborhood friends jumped out from below the kitchen island to surprise her!!!  

 

PIZZA .. PIZZA!!!

Sydni the Birthday Girl, (on the right) her sister Summer (on the left) and friends who came to help celebrate the day!!  The hat Sydni is wearing was one of her purchases from Toys R Us!! 

Time for the cake!!! 

Can you imagine all the hot air it took to blow up all these balloons????  Ken said they finally ended up using an air compressor and having a LOT of fun with it .. especially when Summer ran it .. LOL!! 

Finally time to open gifts!!  The mother of Sydni's friends picked them up before we got around to this part of the party!!  

This is the gift Ken and I got her .. a silver and black zebra striped Lava Lamp with pink Lava .. something she had seen at Toys R Us and wanted but when they went to get one they were out.  We lucked out and found one at the second Toys R Us we went to in St. Louis!!! 

Funny .. when we took Sydni to Toys R Us to do her birthday shopping I discovered a Lava Lamp setting on a bottom shelf .. right in plain sight .. ohhhhh noooo!!  I quickly moved over by the shelf while she was looking at something and moved that Lava Lamp back behind several other Lava Lamps so she wouldn't see it and decide that was what she wanted to spend her money on .. LOL!!! 

Time for a family picture before we go ..

Sydni, Oceanna, Summer, Krysti and Tim .. Whoops .. Kyle!!! 

I love Krysti's choice in décor .. but then you all know that don't you .. LOL!!

Oceanna, Summer, Sydni, Tim and Krysti just a few years ago!!!