I wish I knew the secret behind Doug's non-graying hair! It is incredible that he has no gray at all (unlike his wife). And what a nice haircut too (courtesy of his wife). But enough of his perfect hair and on to his 50th birthday celebration...
For the last few months, I have been worrying about what sort of party to throw for Doug. We usually host birthday parties at home, where I stress out over the preparations, run around being hostess, and slave over the grill. The weather has also not cooperated in the last few years, it has been either deathly hot (high 90's F) or torrential downpours. I can't say which is worse when it comes to grilling. And I've heard of other 50th birthday celebrations that included a clam bake on the beach, a DVD chronicling 50 years of life, and other overly ambitious exploits (not that I'm competitive or anything). So I finally put aside all my preconceptions and decided to go to a restaurant for the celebration. We chose Legal Seafood at the Burlington Mall (for those of you in Massachusetts).
The food was much better than anything I could prepare (OK, I do grill an awesome salmon) and the atmosphere was festive, especially with the Over the Hill sign that Doug's cousin put up. I was relaxed because I didn't have to worry about serving everyone and there was no cleanup!! OK, now I sound like I just threw my kid a birthday party at McDonald's, but really, it was fabulous.
The one thing I was concerned about was the photography. I am a natural light person and cannot for the life of me get my Speedlite flash to work to my advantage. But thankfully, our friend George (who took the photograph of us above) came to the rescue and showed me how to set the camera in manual mode (ISO 400, 1/125 sec, F11) with the diffuser on the flash set at 45 degrees. It did automagically fill in the light according to the distance of the subject. It even filled in 12 feet down the table!
Of course, the kids were horsing around as usual.
So I finally gave Dova my iPhone to occupy her.
And who can resist this piece of lobster?
That look on Dova's face just cracks me up. She wouldn't try it.
And there's a story behind the "50" candle as well. The number 5 made its first debut on Adam's fifth birthday:
It kept falling down on Dova's fifth birthday:
And it made another appearance on Doug's 50th birthday:
Some people may find this candle reuse tacky, but I call it incredibly
I'm glad the birthday celebration turned out well and would go back to that restaurant in a heartbeat. But I'm in no rush to get to 50!
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