Medieval Times,Uncle B and Kate Marie

Last weekend was Kate Marie's 10th birthday and we started celebrating on Friday night and the party wasn't over until Sunday afternoon! It all started with a wonderous "Ladies Only"dinner, make over and sleep over at the Fitzpatrick's house. Since I was regulated to the "Boring Boys Only" pizza surprise and Olympic watching festival, I can't give a personnel review of the nights events. However, rumor has it that a future Miss Teen Queen and red carpet walker or three might be in this group of simply beautiful and charming little ladies. I saw pictures of the make overs and all I can say is that all the daddy's better get all their guns in order so they can be ready as they all grow up. I think the head count was 13 or 14 young girls all full of cupcakes and punch and they went late into the night before giving up the ghost and catching some much needed shut eye.
We all got up the next morning, granted some of us earlier than others, and started preparing for our next adventure, the trip to Medieval Times to see the knights joust and fight and be treated as royalty at the King's table. For Victoria and I both it brought strong emotions as the last time we visited was in January of 2006 and the ring leader of that fantastic trip was none other than Uncle B himself. Boy did Bryan know how to throw a party or shindig and have everyone around him clutching themselves with belly laughs and to watch him work the servers was pure magic. We weren't even all seating at our eating table and he had our waitress falling all over herself to keep us happy. Bryan also appreciated good service and when tip time came around, he rewarded the great service he usually got. Plus it seems as if his wallet had no "empty" and we enjoyed everything they had to offer and we all left elated with our experience. This, as I stated, brought with it some very hard times as we thought about missing him so much and wondering if the ache ever does go away. This trip was a little different as "Grandpa Birthday" now trying to fill two pair of shoes that quite simply have him overmatched, still put up a pretty good fight. The show was just as good as we remembered and I think Peter was so mezmorized that he forgot he didn't like to eat and chowed down on the vittles that were supplied. Heck, even Nathan, who I have never seen eat much of anything, ate his whole chicken and toast and said after it was all said and done that he was quite "stuffed". I don't even think anyone minded the long trip home and I confess that riding with the Fitzpatrick's is very eductional. Did you know that the Ford logo on their cars is the orginal one from when they started in 1903? Also how many of you knew that Albert Switzer was a great artist as well as a concert pianist? But what he truly loved was the people of Africa and he devoted his life to them as a missionary. Who knew? Not me that's for sure.

After church the next morning we took Kate Marie with us and we were on a bicycle quest. She had out grown her old one and a new bike was tops on her birthday wish list. Grandma and Grandpa were up to the task and we soon hit all the bike hotspots with not much luck. Grandma and Kate had to keep reminding Grandpa that they had seen one that she really liked at Walmart over by our house. Finally after a very nice breakfast at Carnitias Express, which I highly recommend, we made our way to the Walmart of Murrieta. Once we were among the bikes and had found the bike the Kate had liked, a very interresting thing occured. A very nice sales lady by the name of Jill came by and asked if we needed any assistance. I was about to say no thank you when she said, "I just took a bike that was returned to the back and it's very nice and if you want to look at it I can bring it out and by the way it's half price." Cha-ching! Grandpa's eyes grew wide with that pronouncement and he told her to bring it on. She went to the back room and came out with a very attractive looking purple girls bike and Kate said, "I really like that one." After a few quick lessons from Grandma on the proper way to get on the bike with a dress on, she was riding up and down the aisle on her almost new purple birthday bike! It was such a good deal that when we tried to get out the front door with it, the poor checkout lady almost had a heart attack over it and we went through a five minute ordeal proving that it was only half price.

The whole weekend I thought about Bryan and how he made these little family affairs special for all of us. I guess it will always ache, but I do know that he's home now and watching over us all and I'll bet he got a big ole Uncle B belly laugh as he saw us celebrate Kate Marie's big day.

I've rambled on so long that it's time for bed, so until I write again, remember to keep those cards and letters coming!