What a great birthday!

I was born 58 years ago in Kobe, Japan.

My parents lived on the south island of Kyushu but flew to Kobe the week before my due date to have me in the Canadian hospital located there.

My first plane ride - I was 1 week old, to fly back home.

Some families don't celebrate birthdays.  

Other families make a HUGE deal of them, spending hundreds of dollars. 

We have always just celebrated with family (except for our "over the hill" birthdays when lots of friends were invited!).  Nothing big, but very special!

On my birthday this year, I went to Wichita to have a fun day by myself!

My zoo pass was going to expire the end of June (and we aren't renewing since the kids have moved far enough away that it won't pay for itself), so I decided to have a couple of hours at the zoo!  

Yes, it is fun, even going alone!  I could take my time and just amble about.

The grandchildren don't like to go to the Australian exhibit - maybe a little afraid of birds on the loose - so that was one place I wanted to go!

I wanted to see the chimps, but they are redoing the air-conditioning and it was closed.  Sad.  I love to watch them.  (except, actually, since watching a PBS show about chimps in the wild and how they chase little tiny monkeys and rip them apart to eat them!!! I have totally gotten grossed out and shocked about that so maybe it is ok not to watch them anymore!!  Ha!)

 

The girls never want to go see the lions anymore so I went to see them too.

After the zoo, I had so much fun!  I had all kinds of birthday rewards from various places.

Free mocha frap from one of my favorite places!  

and a free orange scone from Panera!!

$15 gift card from Eddie Bauer!

There was a shirt regularly for $55 on the 70% off rack and then with my $15 gift card I was able to get the shirt for $1.59!!! 

Thank you, Eddie Bauer!



I had a $10 gift card to World Market - LOVE that place!  I got 2 pair of earrings for free!

Then off to Cinnamon Deli's for my favorite sandwich!!  Turkey-avocado-cream cheese.

This is a photo I found on-line of what I ordered.  I had them cut my sandwich into thirds.  I ate 1/3rd and took the other home for Sunday dinner for Al and myself.  The sandwich is HUGE!

I found this recipe to make my own sometime:
2 slices thick cut bakery style bread, lightly toasted
4-5 slices deli turkey
1/2 avocado, sliced
1 T. light mayo
2-3 T low-fat cream cheese (I think they put on the whole tub at Cinnamon Deli's!)
1/4 c. alfalfa sprouts

When I got home, I read a book and rested.  Then Al took me out to eat, then took me out to East Lake to watch the sun set.  What a perfect day!

But it was not over yet!  On Sunday evening, the family threw me a party!

See my surprised look?!

Al found my keys that had been missing for over 2 weeks!  He found them just before the party and they wrapped them up to give to me!

 Woo hoo!!!

We ended the evening going to the kids' house.

A delightful day!

And more celebration to come  -

 $$ to spend (thanks Mom!),

 a coupon for coffee from Jill's, 

and another Starbucks one from my friend Andrea!

It has been a great birthday celebration!

June cemetery posting, Ben Franklin

What a wonderful couple of weeks we had in Israel.  It took so many posts to record it all!  I made a book from Snapfish that we will look at over and over.  The notes we took we continue to study and mull over in our minds.  It has been a life-changing trip!

We said goodbyes to the group and flew to Philadelphia.  We decided that since we were there, we would take a tour of the city and spend the night before going home.  Al had been before, but it was my first time there.

We stayed at the Morris House Hotel, built in 1787!  I highly recommend it!  

 
This clock has bullet marks in it from the revolutionary war!



We arrived in the States at 5am and took a shuttle to the hotel.  They let us park our bags and grab some breakfast.  The hotel is within walking distance of the historic city so we walked down there.

 
We got tickets for the Hop On - Hop Off trolley tour around the city.

Betsy Ross House

In this post, I will show several burial spots.  Technically, I took these photos in April, but I wanted to finish my Israel post before posting these so this is my June cemetery post.

Elfreth's Alley is referred to as "Our nation's oldest residential street," dating to 1702.  There are 32 houses on the street, which were built between 1728 and 1836. 

We jumped back on the bus.  This is Humphrey's Flags & Banners.

The city of love!

Joan of Arc, gift from France (real gold)

Historic Christ Church.  Founded in 1695, it is known as "The Nation's Church" because of the famous Revolutionary-era leaders who worshiped here, including George Washington, Betsy Ross, Robert Morris,  and others.

Burial places right under the floor of the church

We walked to the Christ Church burial grounds, the final resting grounds for Benjamin Franklin, five signers of the Declaration of Independence, early medical pioneers and revolutionary war heroes.

 Met these people on the way.

 

Of course, when in Philadelphia, you have to stop to see the Liberty Bell!

And eat Philly Cheese Steaks!

After a good night's rest, we flew home.  Al had to go back to work right away.  Evidently, he was gone so long that his keyboard had sprouted grass!  (thanks pharmacy staff for a good laugh!)