Birthday Weekend

Last Friday was my 33 birthday and Kate made it maybe the best birthday I have ever had. Since I have one of the worst memories of a none Alzheimer's patient I can't be totally sure but I did have a fantastic time. It started Friday morning with a trip to the post office to pick up my gift from my family: a new iPod. I loaded that bad boy up as soon as we got back and we now had traveling tunes for the trip. Thank you so much Mom, Bing, Mark, and Kendra. We then headed to Best Buy to get a stereo put into the Civic since the last two were removed from the car by a neighborhood service. They come around at night and take anything you aren't using. We dropped Finn off with Kris and made our way to Cincinnati to watch a baseball game.

The whole weekend was meant to be a surprise but Jessica ruined the surprise on Thursday afternoon while Kate and I were having a State Fair dog at King David's. I had to make sure I put that in here to properly chastise Jessica.

Tom and Kris had booked a room across the river from the stadium and we walked across a cool old bridge to head to the game. Rockies vs. Reds in what turned out to be a pretty good game, though just being at the park, having a hot dog and watered down beer was fantastic no matter who played. After the game we walked around Covington, KY and once again found ourselves really enjoying the Cincinnati area.

The next morning we had the hotel breakfast and then headed to Louisville, KY to go to the Kentucky Derby! Fan-freaking-tastic! I was so excited when I got up knowing that later that day I was going to one of the premier events in America. I am not a Horse racing guy at all but I love the spectacle of the big events and the Derby did not disappoint. We had mint Juleps, bet some ponies, fought through crowds, and gawked at all the beautiful people. Kate picked the winner of one of the races but I didn't get to the window in time to make the bet. We lost out on $10 but Kate could care less. She picked the winner, the money was secondary. We spent a lot of the time on the rail of the paddock watching the horses and important people parade around for the adoring public. For the 10th race, the actual Derby, we were in a throng of people staring up at the screen. It was electric being part of that crowd all yelling for their pony and jumping around. Absolutely everyone had money on that race from the paramedics to the bus drivers. None of the three horses I had even finished in the top four so I got to tear up my tickets and throw them in the air in mock disgust. The day was so much fun and Kate and I definitely want to do it again. Next time though we want to do it right, Kate in her sun dress and hat and me in my Seersucker suit and bow tie.

When we got back home I had birthday wishes from friends and family in all manor of places. Aaron sent me a video, Dylan and Linsey left a message on Facebook, Crystal and PJ on Myspace, Tonya left a gmail status note, Jeff sent an eCard, Mark, Debbie, and Jaime called, Jesse and Carly sent a card, LaDonna sent an email, and Kate gave me a kiss.