Trip to Philly for Aunt Ernestine's 97th Birthday Party!
Hey Journal,
How are you? I am doing well. My dad and I are in DC at Shar's apartment. Yesterday we all drove to Philadelphia, PA for Aunt Ernestine's 97th birthday party! Dad and I rented a SUV from Enterprise in Charleston from Costco. We drove up on Friday morning. We went to dinner Friday night at this restaurant called "Clyde's". It was pretty good! It was in Georgetown part of DC. I had lamb chops, Dad had a NY Strip and Shar had salmon. Then we went to H&M just to look. Then we headed to the shoe store by where we parked. We looked at shoes. Dad bought a pair. Then we went to the parking garage. The car we rented was very big! So Shar had trouble parking in the garage. We came back to the aparment and went straight to bed. The next morning we woke up early and headed to Philly! We left at 9:30 AM. Shar started driving first. She drove to this town on the other side of Harve de Grace. We paid two tolls. We went to the gas station and filled up on gas. Then we went to Denny's next door. We had breakfast. Shar had Jalapeno Bacon and Eggs and a pancake with a hot tea, Dad had a big breakfast with eggs, bacon, ham and two pancakes; Lastly I had the Fit Breakfast which included egg whites, turkey bacon, fruit cup with an orange juice. We had a nice waitress. I thought she looked like Vicki Roberts, my supervisor from Publix Supermarkets. I used to work there. After breakfast, I started driving. I drove the entire way to Heavenly Hall. We talked about everything on the way up. We listened to music on the radio also. The car drove very nice. We parked in the Heavenly Hall Day Care parking lot and went to the annex across the street. The party was in there. They were just getting started with the party. A few people were there including, Aunt Ernestine, Uncle Joe, Aunt Bertha and Marcel Davis. Marcel is Joe and Bertha's neighbor from New Jersey. He comes to the party every year. He is slow. He has some kind of mental disability. He cannot speak very well but is very mild mannered and kind. We tried to exchange phone numbers but our phones would not connect. Dad's cousins were there also. The party started after not too long. Uncle Joe said a prayer and read a few Bible verses. We sang a few songs. Then he blessed the food and we started to eat. Dad, Shar and I were not very hungry at that time. We let a few people start eating before we got up to get something to eat. We sat in the front near Aunt Ernestine. She was very kind. I could not understand her very well but she seemed to be in her right mind. That is what everyone has been saying about her. She has blue eyes. After eating the musician started to play and sing. He played gospel songs. I knew a lot of them from church. The musican was very good. I thought the songs were very relaxing. After a while Shar and I went on a walk. But after just getting started, Dad called and said there was a gospel group singing that he wanted us to hear. So we came back. We took off our coats and talked to the family members that we knew. There were a lot of young children there and a lot of family. Uncle Joe's sons Eddie and Kenny were there along with their children and his grandchildren. But after the gospel group stopped singing Shar and I went on our walk. We went down 41st Street. We took a picture at the top of an bridge. We kept walking and talking about different things. It was very cold but we were dressed for it. We came to a busy street and eventually came to a Family Dollar. We went inside and looked at different things. We eventually came across Valentine's Day cards. We pick a few out for Mom and Aunt Debbie we also picked up birthday cards for Aunt Debbie. Her birthday is on Valentine's Day! We looked for plug-in air-fresheners but could not find any. Then we went to checkout. I picked up a bottle of water and Shar paid for it. We started walking back toward the party. We passed a nail salon. Shar said, if we were not supposed to be back at the party she would have like to go to the nail salon. We also passed hair salons too. We saw two cats on the way back to the party. I opened the bottle of water and started to drink. Back at the party they were giving speeches. I got in line to get some cake and Uncle Joe saw me and thought I was in line to give a speech. I declined at first but he insisted. But before long I got to the cake. I ate the cake but then remembered that I needed to take out my aligners. I recently joined SmileDirectClub. After a visit in their office they made me custom aligners to fix my smile, particularly my overbite. They are fun to wear. They fit well. But when I am in public, I have to go to the restroom to take them out and rinse them off. I have a purple container to put them in that fits in my pocket. Anyway, when I got back to my seat and started eating the cake, Uncle Joe called me up to give my speech! I said, "Happy Birthday Aunt Ernestine from everyone from Charleston, SC and my Dad, Marion Steed!" She smiled and I took my seat. Right after me, Shar got up to speak. She said something nice! I was impressed. I thought the cake was too sweet so I did not finish it. They had a box full of party favors when I first got there. Everyone at our table took one. They said, "Ernestine Stafford's 97th Birthday Party!" They had four kinds of candy in it and confetti. I ate the candy. They lady across from us had said she did not like peppermint so she gave me her peppermint candy. I did not want to take candy from a stranger so I put it inside the bag my candy came in and put it in my pocket. Shar put her party favor in her purse. We got the party favors before we started eating. After a while we headed back to DC. Janelle and two of her kids were in town. Kristine was visiting Howard University. It was a girl's trip. So just Janelle, Kristine and Caroline were with Aunt Lucy. I had texted Aunt Debbie the night before and asked her to dinner Saturday night. She said yes. But later at the party, she texted me that Janelle and two of her kids were in town and asked if I wanted to invite them. So I called Aunt Lucy and she agreed. So when we were just leaving Philly, I called Timbuktu's Restaurant and made a reservation for 10 at 6:30 PM. We were the first to arrive. It was so cold outside that everytime the door opened to let someone in or out, a gush of cold air would blow though the waiting area! Everyone there was talking about it and making jokes. Next to arrive was Aunt Debbie, Ashley and Phil. They came in and we gave them hugs and greeted them. Then after a very short while, I called Aunt Lucy and she said they were in the parking lot! So when they came inside, Shar got a table buzzer. They had said, we could not get one until our entire party was here. So after a short while we got our table. Dad and I sat on the ends of the table. After dinner we took a picture in the waiting area together. Hopefully Janelle will send it to us! Shar started to drive when we were on out our way out. When she was on the highway, she missed the first exit she was supposed to take a detour. We went first to Harris Teeter when we got back to DC. We bought food for breakfast and the Super Bowl!