A quick summary of the birthday weekend:


First, we surprise Michael by hiding Joshua in a liquor cabinet on Friday. Yes, yes, he should have been in school, but he is 13 now, and we thought, "well, what's one day in a liquor cabinet? he'll be fine". And, sure, he's been in liquor cabinets before, so this wasn't a stretch. This strategy worked perfectly. Michael was surprised, and very happy, and then slightly sad because he thought there was no liquor ... but that was quickly resolved.


Then it was time to open the gifts.


There were gifts flown in from New Jersey that sparkle and bubble and should be served chilled (and it was served chilled, trust me).

There were strange squirrel gifts, and lots of things made out of ketchup packages. Homemade photo books of Michael when he was cute, I mean when he was small and growing up. Funny stuff some of these photos. My personal favorite gift was the photo book from Vanessa and Nick with 40 photos of their dad in NYC. Everyone should have one of these on their coffee table. Good stuff.


Eventually, George showed up to join in the fun. Not on time, of course, but you know, on George time. The kids were sooo glad to see him that they rushed out of the pool to hug him and get him all wet. But that George, he wasn't going to be outdone ... no ... he jumped in the pool fully clothed. The kids thought that was just great fun. The rest of us had seen that old trick before and just went to poor another drink while he dripped dry. He may still be drying come to think of it.

Brad cooked everyone a fabulous prime rib dinner with au jus. No one really knows what was in the au jus, but it sounds very cosmoplitan, so we all kept saying it. "Pass the au jus"
"This is fabulous au jus"
"What did you put in this au jus"
"Can I have your recipe for au jus"
You get the idea.


Of course there was cake. And I'm pretty sure everyone went to bed by 9pm, or so.





The next day, we all played a round of golf with Tiger and Freddy. Tiger and Freddy both played fairly well, but Rich's putting was outstanding. He's been practicing.

We went back to Chateau Blystone and did a little swimming. Just us at the pool, not Tiger and Freddy. I don't think they swim. They just play golf.

Anyway, back to us.

Later in the day, Allen hosted a surprise party for Michael at Houston's, on the dock. Michael's friends were there (both of them, seen here).

It was a great night to be out and we all charged our drinks to Michael's platinum card (but he doesn't know that yet, that's the last suprise, shhh).







It was a lovely weekend.

As far as we could tell, Michael had a wonderful time. If it weren't for the glass he kept carrying around that said 40, you would have thought it was his 39th birthday.

Fantastic weekend!! Happy Birthday Michael!