Annual Milwaukee Birthday Celebration=Good times for all

We celebrated John and my birthday this past weekend in Milwaukee with the family and my good friend Joan. We started out on Friday night at Joan's, followed by dinner at Champs, and a night of fun at Fat Boy's Roadhouse listening to John Giliberti's band. It is like we are regulars there now! Alissa and Nathan joined Joan, John, and I for this fun night out. We definitely had more than a few beers to toast our birthdays and Joan took enough photos to last a lifetime!

Joan heard the word weenus which is the loose skin on your elbow so we had to take a photo of our weenuses! Joan always was very aware of people's elbow skin long before she learned the official word for it!

I enjoyed a Birthday dance with this handsome young fella who just happens to be my son-in-law. He knows how to treat a lady right and make her feel young!

Here are me, Joan, and Alissa with the roses which they were giving out to all the ladies at Fat Boy's. Last time we were there it was a buffet of meatballs served in nescos and this time, roses! You can't help but love the place.

On Saturday we met Courtney, Paul, and Tiz at The Ethiopian Cottage for lunch. I was not sure what to be expecting at the restaurant. I am not very experimental when it comes to food, but what a pleasant surprise. The food was all yummy and the atmosphere was so nice. The owner and waitresses were very friendly and could not get enough of Tiz. The food is served in these large baskets and we just sit around them and scoop up the food with injura. (Tortilla like sourdough bread)

Here is my birthday hug from sweet Tizita.

This is the way the food came to us. We all shared from this one platter. We had lamb, mild beef, and spicy beef plus potatoes, corn, squash, greens, and beans. It was not only delicious food, but fun to eat. How often do we adults get to eat without silverware!

The owner gave me a complimentary glass of honey wine when he found out it was my birthday. Very yummy sweet wine just like they serve in Ethiopia.

After our lunch we went to Sprecher Brewery for a tour and tasting. Here John and I are enjoying a beer sample. Very nice tour and generous tasting! I really enjoyed their sodas even more than the beers!

Here is Tiz enjoying her root beer while I am enjoying some Red Raven soda. After the tour we headed back to Alissa and Nathan's for a nice night of conversation, Miss America, Balistreri's pizza, and fun with Tiz. She was a hoot running around in Alissa's tube socks and her underwear. She loves spending time at Alissa and Nathan's where she can play wii to her heart's content and play the guitar and drums with Guitar Hero.

At the end of a very busy, fun day, Tiz fell asleep on my lap. A perfect ending to a perfect weekend!
I never think the next Birthday celebration could ever be better than the previous one, but they keep getting better and better. The girls do such a nice job of planning everything out and it runs so smoothly without any hitches. I am usually the one who has to do the planning so this is such a nice change for me. I can just sit back and enjoy watching it unfold!