Birthday cake and metallic bikes

As I mentioned Friday, I plan to milk my birthday for all it's worth (like usual!).

The fun started Friday night with dinner with Brad's fam in Newberg. We celebrated three early-June birthdays: me, dad-in-law Steve and grandma-in-law Barbara.

Dinner was a selection of homemade soups, fruit and rolls:

 

I very much enjoyed the potato/corn chowder (two bowls worth!) that mom-in-law Donna brought.

Uncle Dick and Aunt Lou (on the left) were visiting from Tennessee:

Deborah, Mike and AJ made the drive in from McMinnville :)

AJ made an amazing triple-layered strawberry chiffon cake. Oh my!

We all practically licked our plates clean and then desperately wanted more. Unfortunately, our pants were already bulging and couldn't possibly fit in another bite :(

Just remembering it now, my mouth is watering.

Some lovely pics of the group:

Mike just had hip surgery and the men had to check out the xray of the new joint:

Cool!

And then the pictures from Brad's recent climbing adventure (hopefully I'll post a couple of those pics soon):

There were cards and some gifts exchanged around the table. And Brad's folks got me this - an instant popsicle maker!

We spotted these recently while shopping with Brad's family at Sur la Table. They are so cool! You pre-freeze the maker and then pour in your juice or whatever. Then 7-9 minutes later... popsicles! I can't wait to try it :)

Saturday was spent playing with bikes.

Brad just bought a new set of wheels, this time a fixed-gear bike in awesome metallic blue:

It came in a box, and after some assembly, he was ready to learn how to ride it. Fixed-gear means that the pedals go continuously - no coasting. So you have to learn how to get off and on and remember to keep pedaling so you don't break your neck :)

He's amazing, so of course it just took him a little bit of time to get used to it. And though I was standing by with the cell phone, 911 was not activated!

We rode down to Cook Park, where lots of sports, family gatherings, BBQs and even a school party were under way. A marimba band from Beaverton Montessori School:

And a bouncy castle:

In the evening, Eryn, Brad, Lindsey and I ran the Starlight Run 5K in Portland... dressed like hot dogs :)

It was absolutely hilarious. One of the best days of my life!

Read about all the excitement - and see more hot dog pics!

Good fun :)