#familysizeapplejacks

[thedaveandkimmershow]

I’m thinking my birthday this year is one I’d like to experience every year. By which I mean to say it struck the right balance of everything. 

Couple things that paved the way for it:

1. I managed to slip in ‘n outta Seattle the previous afternoon to leave flowers at the gravesite of the woman who was our neighborhood’s bible school teacher when I was a kid. Usually, I try to make this trip on my birthday... but it turns out to be a touch more contemplative when it’s not a side trip up Queen Anne that’s shoehorned into a day of Seattle adventures.

2. We hit The Rock Lynnwood the previous night to kick off my birthday celebration ‘cause the days down at this end of the year are so... short.

Anway.

We didn’t sleep in crazy late on my birthday. Just ‘til 9-ish so as to ease into the morning a little before heading out. Especially making room for the part where I get to open birthday presents.

Kimmer made me a craft-y birthday card accompanied by Season 5 of The Big Bang Theory from Half Price Books... along with a Value Village leather jacket for which she’s been hunting quite some time now.

Linzy had to slip outta the house ‘cause she had an early shift at Dolce Blue in downtown Seattle that day.

No worries, though. She’d meet back up with us later.

By 10:30, Kimmer ‘n I were on the road in her green bug. It was an ideal foray into the world on my birthday because, even though it was cold, it was a classic sunny winter morning on largely deserted roads.

Like the day was just for me.

Nice.

Ten, Fifteen minutes later, we pull into Hopjack’s on 99 & 196th, grab a booth, and order, for the very first time, from the Hopjack’s Weekend Breakfast menu.

Believe it or not, it was an eye-opening, mouthwatering experience. Kimmer had the Cali Benedict, a variation on a theme topped with avocado, bacon, and tomato. Me, I had the Hopjack’s  Slam. Basically, it’s what you order when you can’t make up your mind: 2 eggs (scrambled), french toast, bacon, country sausage. All super tasty. On top of that, I chose a country biscuit when offered of choice of said biscuit, whole wheat toast, or an English muffin.

Interestingly, both of us were asked if we preferred smashed potatoes, hash browns, or fresh fruit to accompany our breakfasts.

We both raised our hands for the hash browns.

Then we were asked

Crispy... or not crispy?

Yes. Two votes for crispy hash browns.

It was heavenly.

At 11:30, we had to beat a path outta there, leftover boxes tucked securely in hand, as we needed to be at the Crest Theater in Shoreline for the 11:45 showing of “The Man Who Invented Christmas”.

Of course I love “A Christmas Carol”, read it every year this time of year, so I was relieved to find myself enjoying this movie dramatizing Dickens’s creative process toward a finished manuscript, under immense pressure, in under 8 weeks.

Did the screenwriters play fast and loose with details?

No idea.

Put it on the list of unverified information to research. For now... all I know is we had a great time watching it.

Then to downtown Seattle where we’re to meet Linzy around 3.

It’s 145-ish up in Shoreline right now, so we jump back into Kimmer’s green bug and manage our way to I-5, to 99, slipping into a spot along the street next to that church on 6th Avenue North between Valley & Aloha.

Now, Kimmer’s been on the phone with her Orange County cousin from California. She’s been on the phone with him for a while. So in the midst of that conversation we magage to exit the car and walk two blocks before realizing I’d left my DSLR camera in the trunk. Kimmer’s reading glasses, by the way, have slipped off her head and tucked themselves between her seat and the door.

She won’t realize that, however, until we’re at the downtown end of the monorail.

We grab my camera, though, and continue the walk to The Seattle Center. 

We’re gonna pass right by it anyway, so a quick stop at the Culture Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck in the Museum of Pop Culture is quite in order.

There’s no seats at the bar available just then, so we hit the gift shop one floor up... but keep an ever watchful eye out for anyone vacating their seat. Which happens, actually, pretty quick.

I dash down the stairs to stake our claim whilst Kimmer elects to take the elevator.

When she finally catches up with me, we have a lovely time over a beer sampler. Left to right above, it’s 

Elysian Mens Room Original Red Sodo Brown Ale African Amber Manny's Pale Ale

It’s closing in on 3... so we pay our tab and head outside. We’re not taking the monorail into town, though. We’re walking: south on 5th, across Broad under the monorail, behind Fisher Plaze and across Denny, then Cedar to 4th. 

We walk along the sunny side of 4th down to Dolce Bleu. Linzy’s off work already and lounging over at Barnes & Noble a few blocks away. She meets us on the Northeast corner of 4th & Pine and, with a little help from Google Maps, make our way to the Hard Rock Cafe for Classic Nachos and Southwest Chicken Flatbread.

After our lunch-slash-dinner together on my birthday, we head back out into a downtown Seattle that’s colder, darker, and windier.

No bueno.

I’ve got my DSLR with me, though, and I wanna take some pictures of downtown at Christmastime.

We part company at the corner of 5th & Pine, the girls continuing their way toward warmth at Barnes & Noble a coupla blocks away while I snap the few photos on which I’d set my heart.

The remainder of our time downtown was finding the girls again after my impromptu photo shoot, waiting a touch whilst Kimmer bought a replacement pair of reading glasses, then making our way to 5th... up the elevator to the monorail.

From the Seattle Center, yes... it was a very cold walk back to our car. The temperature’d dropped even more... and the wind was whipping those cold molecules about our faces and hands with a vengeance.

We were supposed to meet up with our friend, Alexander, back at the house at 7... which we managed quite succesfully by pulling into our driveway at 645.

One thing about Alexander... he always leaves our home better than he found it. There was a lot of comparing notes, catching up. A lot of laughter and so this happened. 

A lot of Christmas Cheer.

Kimmer ‘n I’d committed to a friend’s music gig in downtown Edmonds, so we left Alexander and Linzy behind for continued catching up whilst we jumped back into Kimmer’s car and drove down to Engels Pub to see our friend’s band Who’s Your Daddy?

Unfortunately, the pub’s kind of narrow and small... and this is about as far into the pub as we could get.

Yup. We’re standing by the front door.

We have friends we’re also supposed to meet here... so we audible the evening and meet them a few blocks over at Church Key Pub a couple blocks away around 10.

And that’s how my birthday ended. Hanging out with friends in a pub. Good food, drink, laughter, and conversation.  Catching up with old friends. Meeting some people we hadn’t met before.

By the time we got home... it was 1AM the next morning.

One last thing: my birthday present from Linzy. This bad boy right here. A box of Family Size Apple Jacks.

And yes.

My daughter does know me.

She topped it off with her own handmade card.

And she’s right: a giant box of Apple Jack’s is hard to top.

As is the birthday I just experienced.

:-)