A Day in the "D"

I am so thankful for someone in the area who realized this month is my birthday!  I didn't honestly expect Amber to think of it, because she's rather into her own life and her kids, and I tend to be the "giving" one in our friendship.  However, she asked at the beginning of the month what we were going to do for my birthday.  It became a running joke though, because anytime I would try and discuss plans, we would get off on some tangent about something.  Like, this happened at least six times while eating our burgers at Shake Shack after going to the temple.  And Amber is kind of picky.  Nothing can happen after school because her kids are so busy in sports and she drives them everywhere.  And I knew she wouldn't want to go to any concerts, because, you know, my birthday is all about what SHE wants ;-). And with Ryan flying for Delta, he is gone for several days at a time, so we had to work with his schedule as well.  I guess we can look at it as a bonus that John is completely available, right?

I knew I had them hooked when I mentioned bowling (seeing as Amber had asked us to go roller skating with her and the kids in December).  They are sporty people, and that sounded interesting.  Plus, Amber has only bowled five times in her life.  I wanted to take them into Detroit, because they really never leave their little town of Chelsea, and there's just so much too see and explore in the area.

So, I planned breakfast at The Dime Store in the Chrysler building downtown.  Poor Cheese--he's been wanting to go there forever, and once again, we took someone else ;-). It came as no surprise that both Ryan and Amber ordered the bacon avocado omelette, the exact thing I get every time I go there.  Ugh, it's so delicious.  And as a happy birthday surprise to me from the restaurant gods, there was NO line! #miracle

And then we drove to Garden Bowl.  It's funny because the Barneys keep asking me how I find all these great places, and I've stopped telling them that I find them on Trip Advisor or MLive.  I don't know if they don't believe me, or what.  Garden Bowl is the oldest bowling alley in Michigan at over 100 years old.  It's a super fun place--it reminds me of Cabana Bay at Universal Studios, except in the case of Garden Bowl, it's not retro; it's original ;-)

John showed some serious bowling skills.  See the Detroit skyline on the wall?

All I kept thinking was Glo would absolutely love this place.

And wow, I don't know if bowling alleys have stepped up their game, or what, but we sat down at the screen in front of the lane, and we were asked to pose for some pictures (crazy face, sad face, profile) which we gladly did.  Turns out, those faces were rotated through next to our names on the scoreboard, and anytime anyone hit a pin, or did anything terrific, the screen would throw our pictures into funny scenarios (aka Elf Yourself).  We were football players, and Russian dancers, and pirates.  Oh my gosh, we were laughing so hard!

It's difficult to tell, but the screen is celebrating John's FOURTH strike in a row! (and him sporting ginger hair)

In fact, Amber was laughing.  She's usually pretty darn serious (and a little scary to most people) that to see her laughing so hard that she was crying was pretty amazing.  And at one point, she said to me, "I feel so naughty."  Not having any idea what she was talking about, she explained that she never just forgets about her responsibilities and has fun...and she felt so guilty about doing just that.  And behind her back, Ryan mouthed to us that she NEVER lets herself do anything like what we were doing.  Perfect!

John killed us score wise.  200 on the first game (and seven strikes in a row).  The second game was cut short because we had only paid for an hour, but Amber was ahead by a few points!  And how great it was to have the entire place to ourselves.  John told me that he had reserved the place just for my birthday ;-)

John just broke 200.  It helps when you bowl two straight strikes in the tenth frame....

At one point, I was actually winning.  But it's because it was the second game, and John had left his SKILLZ behind the counter, or something.

Amber claimed this win when our time ran out, but mostly because she lost so badly the first game.  And yes, that's her handle given to her by her snarky second son:  MAID.

I had plans to take them to Treat Dreams, a boutique ice cream shop nearby, but I was surprised to see that it was only 700 feet from Garden Bowl.  WIN!  We walked over, and as much as I had tried to prepare them for "CORN" ice cream, they didn't believe the flavors until they saw "Lobster Bisque" and "Maple Bacon" ice creams among others.

You know the best thing about the Barneys?  We seriously never run out of things to talk about.  We talked on the hour drive there. We talked over breakfast.  We talked while bowling.  We talked over ice cream.  We talked for the hour ride home (well, Ryan more zoned out while the rest of us talked).

A couple of weeks ago, I was watching Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee with Jerry Seinfeld.  He took a woman out who happens to be the best friend of his wife and the wife of George Stephanopolous.  They were discussing how difficult it is to find a couple where all four relationships work--the women, the men, and then each of the men with the other woman.  With the Barneys, there are hugs all around anytime we see each other at church, or when we go out, or when we say goodbye.  There are just some people who you feel like you've known forever.

In the end, I told them that birthday season extends from two weeks before my birthday to two weeks after, so if we stretched it out, we could go out in a month again to close out the season.  And if I have to, I guess we can invite the Edwards as well....