Doug's 40th Birthday Extravaganza

I started brainstorming a month ago or so about what to do for Doug's big 40th birthday. I really wanted to do it up special. Once I finally made reservations, I called his boss and made sure he could have the day off from work. I had a collage poster made (from Costco, soooo cheap and looks great, will definitely do that again!) of various pictures of Doug from birth through current date. I made sure the poster was delivered to a co-worker that happens to live in Katy, so that when Doug arrived at work on his birthday, the poster would already be taped to his office door.

On his actual birthday, Doug was moaning about having to go into work; it took all I had not to smirk or blurt out, "but you have the day off!" Couldn't mess up The Plan! We (Eli and I) had to drive him into work that morning, as his car was still in the Kroger parking lot (where he parks to take vanpool) from Thursday. After we dropped him off, I spun into motion! Got home, showered, finished packing up Eli, our stuff, the dog's stuff....got everybody into the car. Boy those dogs sure do stink when you are trapped with them in a small enclosed space! Got Eli safely transferred to my sister-in-law's van with all his stuff, and they were off. Drove the dogs and their stuff down to Mom's house and dropped them off. Then off to Doug's work!

Called a co-worker from the lobby to escort me upstairs (also arranged ahead of time). It was awesome seeing Doug's face as I peeked around the corner into his office and said, "Pack it up! You've got the day off and we've got plans!"

Got in the car, and headed to Galveston!

We ate a really nice lunch and then browsed around shops.

Me, being a complete dork and trying on vintage hats in an antique store.

Taking a break with Doug's favorite beverage.

Doug in the elevator at the Hilton! (my short lens on my camera is broken, just had the zoom for the weekend, which makes for interesting pictures!) After browsing the Strand for a while, we went and checked into the Hilton, where we took naps (yes, we're OLD). We then cleaned up and drove to Kemah for our dinner cruise, with a murder mystery themed entertainment!

Our cruise ship. Do you see the white line on that pole? That is the Ike Line, showing how high the water got during Hurricane Ike in 2008. Everywhere in Galveston we would see these little plaques indicating how high the water had risen.

We were able to buy a package of mardi gras beads, and during the first part of the cruise, the boat gets really close to the Kemah Boardwalk, and you can throw your beads to the folks on the boardwalk.

Set the timer and took a picture actually before the cruise started, but this picture got out of order when I was loading them.

Surprise, surprise, I volunteered to have a speaking role in the murder mystery enterainment during the cruise! It was really fun. We drove back to the Hilton after the cruise. Saturday morning, Doug had an hour long massage scheduled through the Spa at the San Luis Resort (right next to the Hilton) and I had a pedicure. We drove back to Houston and went antiquing in the Heights area. Doug and I both really like antiquing. We ended up buying Eli a few things at a kid's resale shop. That evening, we met our families and a few friends at Clay's Restaurant, where I had a section reserved for us. I had ordered his cake earlier in the week, and my sister in law picked it up for us and made sure it was there at the restuarant.

Doug and his parents.

I didn't want the "over the hill" theme, and came up with the idea to use an owl and have it say, "Not older, just wiser!"

Friends from church and Doug's sister's family.

David and long-time friend Teresa.

Sweet little thing was soooo happy to see us! This is the first time we had both spent the night away from him. He did just fine at his Aunt Laura's -although, sleeping through the night sounded a little like it was an adventure for his sweet Aunt, but they made it!

I love this picture of my brother holding Eli's hand and walking him down to feed more animals. Since David lives north of Dallas, Eli doesn't get to see him as often as his other uncles and aunts.

More family at the restaurant.

Teresa and Cheryl. Teresa is actually the one that introduced Doug and I.

My sister in law and niece!

cute family pic.

Love this pic of my brother in law and nephew.

And last but not least, my mom and sister.

Wow, just typing all that makes me tired! It was a really fun, and exhausting, weekend. I sure hope Doug felt celebrated! I'm sure he did. Since we just had our five year anniversary, and Mother's Day was the next day, we sorta tied all our celebrations into this one weekend. Now our bank account needs a break from celebrating too!