Distinguished Maturity

Mike is literally the baby of all our friends because he was the only one still left in his twenties. Today, he got to join the age of distinguished maturity, as our friend Al put it. He is officially in his thirties now!

After the devastating news of a cancelled trip to Iwo Jima- something he's been looking forward to since we got to Japan- I knew I had to do something special for his birthday. So I had all our good friends meet us for dinner at our favorite pizza place tonight. Mike was expecting an intimate little family dinner and was greeted instead with 25 friends and a bunch of our kids.

The surprise party was a hit, despite our walking through the wrong restaurant entrance. But thanks to Josh's stealth hiding and camera skills and his team of kids on the lookout for Mike, the moment of surprise was still able to be captured on video.

We all had a fantastic time and I felt sorry for anyone who was there at the restaurant for an evening of quiet dining. With our large group plus kids, a quiet dinner was all but impossible at the Italian Gardens tonight.








We met the Birthday Boy for lunch today. Here he is testing out his new camera on his favorite photo subject.