All in the Family

What a busy few days! I nabbed one last photo with Peter before he left. There's his broken arm in its splint and sling. I was gonna crop the bottom off this photo, but then I decided you needed to see his bummed up knee too.

Today my mother is eighty years young. I wanted to take her out to lunch with the girls. Daddy was happy to stay home since we were going for Thai food. He doesn't tolerate spiciness at all. Pad Thai is a very unfancy restaurant, but the food was good.

You know me; I can't resist food photos ... that is, if I remember to take them! Here's Julia's plate of noodles, veggies, and fried tofu. She dislikes most meat, sometimes, when she's not in the mood for it, but she claims to like tofu. Whateveh. She's fourteen. She doesn't know her own mind.

This is Anna's dish. Anna was in seventh heaven simply because were in an Asian restaurant. Anna adores all things Asian. I looked over at her and asked her, "You feel at home when you're with Asian people, don't you?" And she replied, "Yes." That's just how she is. She loves Asian culture, Asian languages, Asian food, and especially Asians themselves. The white boys in the world are out of luck with this girl; she only has eyes for Asian guys.

Moving on. Here's my mother's lunch. That's bamboo, if you're wondering.

And mine -- I always look for something with pineapple, which I love.

Daddy surprised us all and offered to take us out for dinner in the evening! So darling mother didn't have to cook at all on her birthday, which is a nice gift in itself. We went to Marco's Trattoria, and since we'd had a pretty filling lunch, we ladies ordered appetizers or split items, and it was very delicious. We had hot chai, pizza, French onion soup, and Julia had a fried portabella mushroom. Very nice! They brought Mother a strawberry gelato for her birthday, which Julia enjoyed thoroughly.

Of course I forgot to take photos of the food, but our server obliged by taking this photo.
I probably won't see Anna again before she leaves for her summer internship in China in late June. It makes me a little sad and anxious to realize I have to say a sufficient good-bye now, when I'm not really prepared to do it. She's such a little thing to be traveling across the globe, but she's so very excited to go. She'll be teaching English to Chinese school teachers -- mostly conversational English, but also some grammar and fielding questions from them. But I'll tell you more about that adventure in another post soon.
Home tomorrow! I'm so ready to see Adam and the puppies. Dorothy was right. There's no place like home.