The Grown-Ups Birthday Celebration

Look at these five birthday celebrants---all have their big days within about a three week time span!

Cumulatively their years on the planet total one hundred ninety-three years. Meaning this oddball non-summer birthday host (me) has to put together an out-of-this-world party! Though I love Pinterest, I was determined to do this without that app.

Each year I try to think up a fun theme for the party and this year my inspiration came from a "find" at TJMaxx - a clearance robot party pack complete with 3D glasses, invitations and blank thank you cards. A matching robot with stationery (inside its body) was purchased to use as a table decoration.

This sure made decorating a snap!  With the blank thank you cards I used Target's sticker burlap letters to make a "Happy Birthday" swag.

But most fun of all?  Using recycled boxes, bottle caps and more I put together a robot to house little gifts for the birthday celebrants (note the letters on the robot bodies to indicate which robot goes to which birthday person):

Food was simple, too - Lou Malnati's pizza and salad.  The cake was a silent auction chocolate cheesecake from Forrest and John C. (Soooo decadent and yummy; thanks, guys!!!)

It was decorated with Dollar Tree robot stickers.

Thanks to the robot vest from IKEA, pot holders and red bowl from Dollar Tree, and Vera's grabber, the guests were greeted by the birthday robot!

It was a scorcher of a day, thankfully we could all be outside. I filled up a big planter with water and let the Grands go at it before our pizza was delivered.

Thanks, Becky for the special delivery of Gilbert's backyard toys!!

Following our pizza and cake, it was time for some backyard relay games!

And, yes, I made them all participate!!!

It was (hopefully) fun for everyone from one to sixty-two.

Happy Birthday, John, Jed, Kari, Anne and Wes!!

 

Geezermoon - Springfield

Goodbye, Gateway and Hello Land of Lincoln!  Though we had one more city to 

lodge in for the next two nights (Indianapolis), we headed to Springfield, IL on the way for one reason and one reason alone: The Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum.

Since it opened in 2005, we had put this destination our bucket list of places to visit. We heard so many reports of how excellent this museum was and wanted to verify this for ourselves.

And we did: it is a museum not to be missed!  Interactive exhibits, a lifesize version of Lincoln's boyhood home, a White House replica, the Presidential Box at the Ford Theatre, the coffin lying in state, two theatres with informative shows ("Lincoln's Eyes" and "Ghosts in the Library"), and a fun/fabulous children's area were all memorable.

Boyhood home

Mary Todd Lincoln dress

Lincoln's law office with two wild sons wreaking havoc 

Ford Theatre box

Dollhouse of the Lincoln home - a toy for active play in "Mrs. Lincoln's Attic" 

Once again, photography was limited so I could only take limited shots. But I did get one of a dress I might like to wear myself to a political event in which neither  Donald or Hillary are participants!

From Springfield we went to Indianapolis.

My first post of our Geezermoon actually started here where we finished.  This concludes the Geezermoon series. Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to tell you about our 40th anniversary trip! On to forty ONE!

Geezermoon - St. Louis

Following our time in Mansfield, MO we drove on several more hours to St. Louis.

We lucked out with an online deal to stay at a "boutique" hotel near the Arch - the lovely Magnolia Hotel. Apparently, Cary Grant stayed here back in the day.

It was a pleasure to lodge here for two nights while we explored this city. Our explorations included:

The St. Louis Botanical Garden

with several Chihuly pieces such as the one above in the Visitor's Center - I love the glass work of Dale Chihuly!

Picturing Wes with a full head of yellow hair tickled my funny bone, too.

Yes, the flowers were lovely, too.  But we had to move on to

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis 

for a docent-guided tour of this breath-taking cathedral completed in 1914. It's known for its mosaics and stained glass.

But wait...there's more!  On to the 

Missouri History Museum 

for a look at the Little Black Dress: from Mourning to Night.

So good!

By this time we were running out of juice but squeezed in about 45 minutes at the

St. Louis Zoo.

These geezers were spent!

With a great barbecue restaurant near our hotel we ate a fab meal and called it a day!!

Packing up the next morning and fortified by the complimentary breakfast at our hotel, we headed off to yet another fun city!

See ya later, Gateway to the West!

Geezermoon - Visiting Rocky Ridge

It had really been a fun week in Branson.

Time to leave, but one more stop before moving on to St. Louis: the home of author Laura Ingalls Wilder. 

At age 27, Laura and her husband, Almanzo,  and their young daughter Rose moved to Mansfield, Missouri. They purchased a 40 acre piece of land in 1894 for $100.00.  Laura named this property "Rocky Road." Almanzo built the house room by room as funds became available and eventually it turned into the lovely farmhouse you see in the top picture.

The "Rock House" is also built on this same property as a gift from daughter Rose.

Almanzo and Laura lived in this house from 1928 to 1936 while Rose moved back into their farmhouse.  Hmmm...what's up with that? They moved right back into the farmhouse when Rose left in 1936.  Being in the Rock House ourselves made us agree with that decision - it lacked the warmth and coziness that could still be felt today as we were inside the farmhouse. However, something very special happened while living in the Rock House: the beginning of writing the

Little House books so many of us still love today.

Thinking about Laura beginning her writing at age 65 is most inspirational --- way to go, Laura!

(Although there are critics who think Rose is responsible for being her ghost writer; I choose to give Laura all the credit.)

No cameras were allowed in either house or the nearby museum, so I had to "nab" some off of online images.  Above is a pic of her writing desk.

Here's the charming farmhouse kitchen. My favorite room of all!  Still with Laura's

old stove, tea kettle, dishes and even her embroidered household items.

The museum by the house was newly done and EXCELLENT in collections.  So many items to see that Laura had made (she had serious sewing skills) and the highlight of all: Pa's violin. Every year there is a special festival in Mansfield where Pa's violin is still played...I would've loved to have been there for that!

Were/are you a fan of the Little House books? This is really a special place to visit! 

Geezermoon Favorite Dining Experience

Of course we had to go out for the official

We Made it to Forty dinner while on our Geezermoon in Branson!  Because I had been there before with my sis and the experience was so good, the restaurant at the College of the Ozarks ("Hard Work U") was the obvious choice. Students grow the food, make the food and serve the food.

And the setting of the campus is charming with the restaurant housed in a lovely lodge with rockers on the porch.

It was just perfect in ambiance and cuisine!

Starting off our meal with apple butter on fresh bread would have been satisfying enough on its own, but then the food we ordered came and it was out-of-this-world delicious!

Pot roast with veggies for him.

Bow tie pasta with steak and blue cheese for her.

When the reservations were made, we were asked if it was a special occasion for us, and this was delivered to our table as a dessert:

And it came with another dessert which we gobbled up so fast there wasn't the possibility of photographing it!  It was a decadent chocolate cobbler that was actually a lot like a molten lava cake. In a word we were stuffed, meaning it was imperative to walk it off a bit before returning to our car.

The campus is large, eclectic and beautiful. It's on a hilltop with panoramic views of the Ozarks, classroom buildings, student housing as well as a huge church on campus.

Plus an old one-room schoolhouse with a docent inside.

It was a great introduction to another one of our trip highlights which will be covered next on this blog - an author's home in Mansfield, Missouri.  Clue: she was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse herself and there was a tv show Michael Landon produced about this teacher and her family's trials as pioneers.  

Food, views and history = winning combination.