Well, I think today turned out to be a good day even thought it was Simon's birthday. We took him to Eastwood Towne Center in Lansing where there are several restaurants. Simon actually made a quick decision, (he is usually worse than me about making decisions) and he chose Bravo!, an Italian restaurant. We really loved the decor of the place and the food was excellent. Simon made a very good choice. After a little shopping at Sam's, (such a cool place to shop on your birthday but we did buy the first season of Hero's to watch) we came home and Simon blew out the candles on his cake. Then he opened up his presents and replied to all of his well wishers that wrote to him on line. Since he got poker chips for his birthday and also heading up to the casino in the morning, Simon had an urge to play some poker. He had to settle on playing with Floyd and I and it will be an experience he will never forget. In fact, he said he can't wait to play with someone who knows how to play, referring to me, not Floyd. But who cares if I know how to play or not because I beat him..........I won 2 of the 3 games we played. Floyd won the last one but I did go all in on a hand that I never would have but it was midnight and the guys were tired. We are expecting there to be no school in the morning as a snow storm is coming but as of now, it hasn't started so they thought they should be prepared, just in case. I had my good luck charms, my German bear and my Norwegian moose. (Sully, I guess I need something French or Irish to complete my collection.) But it was my night for cards, especially on the river. All in all, it was a great night and I hope Simon had a good birthday. Happy 18th, Simon!
Magne was in New York for 10 days with a group from his school checking out different Norwegian companies and they also went into the stock exchange. He said he enjoyed seeing how the businesses ran from the inside. So, while he was there I flew out for 2 days so I could see him. We did a lot of walking and riding in the subways and it seemed like Mag was a local because he was very good at getting us around. It was also his birthday when I arrived so we celebrated by taking a helicopter ride and also going to see the play Grease. The next day we spent shopping. Once again, it was great shopping for him due to our falling dollar.
It had been 17 months since I had seen Magne and he is still the funny and very considerate young man that I remembered. I had forgotten how much I love hearing him say, "It's ok, Vic." He always wants take care of everyone else but he doesn't always want it returned.
We both agreed that we don't want it to be another 17 months before we see each other again.
Floyd and I were very fortunate to have Sullivan visiting for the holidays. After he was here for 24 hours last August he knew that he needed to come back for a longer visit and we are so glad he did. Even though we do e mail and text each other and talk on the phone, we still miss his wonderful personality and his good sense of humor. We are so glad that he decided to spend this time with us.
Floyd's family was over on December 23. Everyone was here except for Ric and Tracy as they were at Jeremy's in Tennessee. Nancy's children, Jayden 6 and Jolee, 4 were are so cute and so much fun.
For Christmas Eve, we spent the day driving to my Mom and Dad's. The weather was great while we were there and on Christmas day, the golf course was closed so Simon, Sully, Dad and I went out and played the 8th hole behind their house. We played that hole 3 times and Dad was giving the boys pointers. The day after Christmas, Mom and Dad rented a condo on the water for us to stay in for 3 days. It was a great place with heated out door pools and Jacuzzis but I couldn't talk the guys into going in with me. Dad had found a place that had opened up that had batting cages so we went there and even I got in there to try and hit some balls. They also had an air hockey table and I challenged Simon and Sully to a game. I'm very competitive when it comes to this game and I needed to take Simon on again. We did find another table the next day and I did get one game against Simon. What I don't know is if he let me win so I wouldn't be pestering him to play. :-) Just kidding, I know I beat him fair and square. And as usual, we did play miniature golf. After playing the course once, we decided to play again but Sully came up with some new rules and we also played as teams. We were paired up from the scores of the first game and I was lucky enough to get Dad. With a team like us, who else could win? We killed the others. We also did some shopping with Sully since the Euro is so good against the dollar. He said it was like getting everything 50% off. I think Simon and Sullivan enjoyed going to the driving range the best. They sure were getting a lot better. There is always a lot of driving involved in this trip with it taking 14-15 hours one way, but it is worth it to spend the holidays with Mom and Dad.
Sully was with us for 13 days and it seemd much too short but he did have to get back to work. But we were glad that he came and we are awaiting his next visit. When we dropped him off at the airport he did told me that he would come back and visit and I'm going to hold him to that.
