Wednesday, August 25, 2010

21 x 2, 7 x 6, whatever it takes

I celebrated my 42nd birthday on August 10, and my nephew, Cooper, celebrated his 7th birthday on August 15.


I had a great birthday celebration. The Friday before my birthday, my beautiful friends, Susan, Aimee, and Jodee took me to dinner at Cibo Matto. It is a swanky place with very good food. I am just so thankful that even though I’ve known these women for over ten years, the past year has brought us so much closer, and that really is the best gift.

The Saturday before my birthday Ignacio, Jodee, Gabby, Camel, and I went to my mom’s house and my bro and his family went as well. It was a very low key day spent poolside, and it was great. It was just what I wanted: calm and easy.

On my actually birth day, Ignacio, my mom and I walked to Trattoria No. 10 for my birthday dinner, then walked to State Street for a little shopping at The Body Shop, and a little frozen yogurt for dessert.



Carter, Cooper, Gabby, and Camel


Carter, mid-trick
Ignacio and Cooper, discussing ab workouts

Jodee, Gabby, and Carter discussing the meaning of life



The Friday after my birthday, my friend Don came to stay for the night before jetting back to LA the next morning. Our old dancing school friends Jenn and Jean stopped by, and we had pizza and snacks and watched the finale of So You Think You Can Dance. Ignacio came home a little later and we started playing some dancing games on the Wii. There was nothing better than watching Ignacio get a higher score than Don whilst dancing to show tunes. Classic!!



Now for Cooper’s 7th birthday, his parents gave him a choice of having a kids’ party or going to the Bristol Renaissance Faire. My man Cooper chose the Ren Faire. We went two years ago for my 40th birthday celebration and he had a good time, and he wanted to go back. So, umm yeah, I chose to go to the Ren Faire when I turned 40, and Cooper chose it when he turned 7.


We had a blast at the Renaissance Faire; it’s really an amazing place. I laughed so hard when Tiger and Cooper were in the ring to fence one another. Tiger had to sit down since he is so much bigger than Cooper, and Cooper got the advantage of being mobile. The object was to pop the balloon on top of your opponent’s helmet with your sword. Tiger and Cooper had on so much protective gear, that you couldn’t see their faces at all. But once the first match began, Tiger starting yelling really, REALLY loud, and scared the crap out of Cooper (and the audience) and he popped Cooper’s balloon. Then entire crowd booed Tiger, it was hysterical.


Enjoy the slideshow.


Bristol Renaissance Faire 2010 from Natalie Mikolajczak on Vimeo.


4 comments:

  1. I particularly like the pic of Ignacio "discussing abs" while holding a beer. :)

    Laura

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  2. Love the pics!
    I am stealing the picture of the two of us for a blog post this week. Everyone should do Mondo!

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  3. For the record Wii does not take technique into account...that's all I'll say about that. However, it was GREAT FUN. Meanwhile, smell you with the fancy schmancy slideshow WITH music. Very nice. I loved you with the flowers on your head. Fun and pretty and summery!

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  4. Great Post! I've loved the Renaissance Faire since we went about 30 years ago with Dad, Ronnie & the Zacks. I'm so sorry I missed it this year. Let's plan to do it next year. I forgot to tell you to look for some fairy angels for me.

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