Jill's Birthday Week Extravaganzas

Jill's birthday celebrations started last Saturday when her friends threw a large surprise party for her complete with wild jungle animals, palm trees, a monkey birthday cake, a hand-drawn birthday card (by Nate) and a candy-filled pinata. I was in Utah at the time but I hear it was a lot of fun and I have seen pictures of the 'Shock and Awe'. Great job Shelly, Donna, Brittany and everyone else who put it on. One funny antedote is the fact that Jill was truly surprised and never caught on that there was a party planned for her - even after accidentally seeing the following subject line of an eMail from shelly in my inbox: "Jill Kneeland Surprise Bday Party"! On Saturday morning her friend Rob was celebrating his 50th birthday with a morning run. About 8 of his friends went for 'fun run' along the water front in Baltimore which was advertised as about a 5k route. It was quite far for Jill and I (I'm pretty sure it was more than 5k) but we did it with only a couple of rests. After the run (and a shower) we headed up to Philly to hang out with Jill's parents. Somehow we were on the topic of manual labor as we pulled up to the house and within moments of meeting the folks I was recruited to help move a couch. Gotta love it! Donna and Bruce took the 'local' family members (Linda and Toby, Kelly, Jill and me) to lunch and Bahama Breeze to celebrate Jill's birthday. Everyone one but Bruce really enjoyed their food and dessert. I don't think Bruce will be back be anytime soon! They also treated Jill and I to a movie (Superman - too slow and too long) then we headed for home via Cracker Barrel. Thanks! The only freak-out moment occuried when we went into the kitchen and saw a large print out of one of our 'self-portraits' posted in full color on the refrigerator! And another picture was posted in Donna's home office! I guess they approve! Church (Baltimore University Ward) was interesting mostly because of the small size of the congregation which gradually increased as the meetings progressed. I joined Rick and Mike and about 5 or 6 others for the first meeting (Priesthood). The small group was gathered together in the back corner of the chapel. I was surprised when the meeting began with a booming voice across the PA system. The leadership was seated on the stand clear across the vast expanse of the chapel, using the mic and pulpit! Way to add that personal feel boys! The lesson was on journal keeping where blogging was referenced several times as a pretty decent method of documenting events in our lives that we don't mind being public, but we should also keep private journals for our posterity to enjoy. After church we enjoyed the amazingly perfect weather that Jill must have wished for during one of her candle blow-outs. Fort McHenry was a great place to walk around, people watch, take a few pictures, watch someone chasing their loose kite string and relax on the lawn. When we left, the 'free' kite was still flying strong tethered to a tall tree. The last celebration was a small dinner party at Mike and Brittany's place. This dinner was the result of the quick thinking of Brittany when Jill mentioned that she was just going throw her own small birthday celebration which could have fouled-up the already planned surprise party. Dave and Kerry and Adam and Shanna also joined us for fajitas and cheese cake; enjoyed outside in the completely unseasonably wonderful weather. Hope you had a great Birthday week Jill. Lot's of people put in some extra effort trying to make sure you did! Welcome to your third decade! Here are the rest of the pictures.