Feeling Twenty-two

For Caelan's 22nd birthday, we planned and accomplished a very Caelan day :) It began with the arrival of Gabby bringing a pretty pink gift for her sister (with some help from Caelan's sister-in-law, E, too).

No time to put on the new dress just yet, because we booked coffee flight reservations and were excited to start that adventure! A coffee flight is a cute little board of smaller-than-usual coffees, teas, or hot chocolates, that provides an opportunity to try a bunch of fancy flavors without the excess of caffeine (although, for me, just the couple I tasted was an excess of caffeine :) Even better, they were half off as a 12 days of Christmas special that aligned with Caelan's special day!

P.S. Butter beer isn't actually beer, it's something from the Harry Potter books, I think, maybe? Buck liked the bees knees with the lavender and honey the best, which surprised him!

Wouldn't you know that real nearby there was a plant shop Caelan hadn't been to? What is a Caelan birthday adventure without a plant shop? This one was unique in that it has a potting bar--where you can bring in your plants in need of repotting and pick out all the soils, nutrients, accoutrements, etc. that will be healthiest for the plant. We didn't do that. I'm still just excited I've got a few green things growing; that's all next level stuff for me!

The day was sunny and, well, not "warm," but not unpleasant either! We walked down through the park to show Grandma J the improvements and looked over the ice-filled river on our way past the ice skating rink. Our brunch reservations were set to begin soon, but the fresh air was nice after the coffee excursion--so much caffeine :)

Chase and Brennen joined us for brunch, which ended up being mostly paid for by the gift cards Buck's boss gave him for Christmas--Grandma J picked up the tip, so Buck and I would have a little left over for a date night :) The food was delicious, and Caelan loved the atmosphere of the restaurant. They even gave her a little birthday treat to help celebrate her special day! Graysen was working and we thought he might be joining us when we saw he was nearby on the map, but it turns out his boss was taking him to lunch at the restaurant where we had Nolan's rehearsal dinner; also very cool!

We stopped home for a little while, but still several outings remained! After changing into her Glinda-esque new dress, we ladies headed for the movie theater to see Wicked. We all knew Caelan wanted to see it on her birthday with us, so we all waited. We figured the theater would be pretty empty, because it was released quite awhile ago, but there was a descent-sized crowd of moviegoers there to sing along (quietly) with us :) We thought the movie was visually beautiful and stuck to the play's storyline well. The three hours flew by (no pun intended), but it's hard to believe that was just the first half!

Caelan really wanted to use her Starbucks birthday bonus because it is only available on a person's actual birthday--so we stopped by after the movie to get her a pink drink . . . and since Hobby Lobby isn't too far away . . . :)

Caelan restocked on some yarn she needed to complete some of the many projects she was working on while she was here; she spends a lot of time at Hobby Lobby, I think :) And it was yarn coupon week, so 30% off--deals!

Back at home, Buck ordered gas station pizza (the best) and we all gathered for dinner together. To give our tummies a rest before dessert, Caelan opened gifts--including a treadmill from her brother which had been "hiding" behind the curtain Buck and my bedroom for quite some time. Noah immediately started pondering how they would tote that treadmill home in an already filled-to-capacity car (but they did!)

All the pink candles from all the packages this year went onto Caelan's requested chocolate desert with chocolate gingerbread guys on top :) We spent the rest of the evening finishing up our first Christmas puzzle while listening to Christmas music and enjoying the Christmas tree lights. I'm not sure if Noah was punting the puzzle to Brennen, but whatever they were doing, it made for a fun picture!

I think Caelan's birthday turned out to be a fun celebration of all the things she enjoys--granted, we didn't get to the piercings . . . but there's always next year ;)