There used to be a show back in the 90′s called “Thirtysomething.” I never watched it (I was too young), but it was an American television drama about a group of baby boomers in their late thirties. I think I officially qualify as “thirtysomething” since I’m now 35 years old. I find it ironic that I’m well into my 30′s now. Growing up, your 30′s always seemed so far off in the distance, yet it seems to have snuck up on me. Geez, I’m 35 years old. Frankly, that’s nuts, yet it is true.

Being in my 30′s isn’t as bizarre or weird as I thought it would be. I’m a little wiser now, as I’m trying not to sweat the little hiccups in life — it is just not worth it. I’m enjoying life more, and less self-conscious about how I’m perceived. I’m married to a wonderful woman, and we have two great kids. We have a nice little home of our own that we have to clean up regularly. Life is good.

Of course, life isn’t perfect, but what is considered perfect anyway? Life is about overcoming new challenges, and reaching towards the next goal. For example, I’ve been overweight and living an unhealthy life for years, but now I’m doing something about it. We’ve struggled and survived through the early child development years, but there will always be new challenges as the kids get older. I have a few hundred different places that I want to visit, but budgeted money to do that will always be finite.

I think I’m rambling. I hate when I ramble. Let me summarize. A few years ago, I remember taking an online survey, and the results came back that I was “unhappy.” I don’t need a survey now to tell me that I’m happy these days. Life isn’t perfect, but that’s what keeps it interesting.

Apart from the big birthday party last Sunday, Josh wanted to eat at IHOP on his actual birthday. Apparently, he’s a big pancake fanatic. Who knew? After we got back from work, we took the kids out for dinner. To pass the time, Joshua devoured one of his new Magic Treehouse books (birthday present), and Lily & I made faces.

Joshua loves his books

Making faces

A Star Wars family

Joshua celebrated his sixth birthday this year. Trying to find something different to do, we opted to rent a nearby community room, and entertain the kids ourselves. We decided on a space / Star Wars theme for the party. Since Joshua was in kindergarten now, we invited friends and children from both kindergarten classes at his school. Out of 40 kids, I’ll never understand the folks who never RSVP. I mean, really, can’t you pick up the phone?

Handmade lightsabers

As the party attendance grew to around 25 kids plus the parents, we decided that maybe we weren’t going to be able to successfully entertain all those kids (and their parents), and run the overall party simultaneously. A few days earlier last week, we opted to hire someone else to professionally come in and do it. In hindsight, great idea. I can handle entertaining my two kids, but 25 kids? Recipe for disaster, and me fleeing through the fields. We made a call to Dynamic FitKids, and they were available on Sunday afternoon.

My wife had some cool ideas, such as us wearing Star Wars t-shirts. As part of the goody/gift bags, each kid would take home their very own handmade lightsaber (made from a pool noodle.). Finally, Namita made a pretty awesome Star Wars birthday cake with a mini Death Star on it.

A Star Wars cake

Two years in a row, the day called for rain, but we dealt with it. We got to the hall about two hours before to set up and decorate. The kids and parents promptly began arriving at 3pm, but we were fairly ready. The kids ran around, then our entertainment arrived, set up quickly, and we were off. It turns out that 25 kids is a lot of children to handle, so we’re doubly glad we didn’t try to do it ourselves. I think everyone thought the cake was pretty cool, and the kids seem to enjoy beating each other with their lightsabers.

Joshua’s 6th birthday party – Rocket Ship Activity from Joel Ipe on Vimeo.

Wednesday night, we went out for dinner to celebrate my wife’s birthday. We decided to try out a new Indian restaurant Delhi 6 that opened in the area. The food was good, but they weren’t kidding about it being spicy.

My parents came over Sunday evening to visit us and the kids. My wife made this pretty cool looking tiger-themed birthday cake, as my Dad just celebrated his 69th birthday last week. I have no idea how my wife has the time, patience, or energy to make a themed cake. I’m a man — I’d always take the easy way out and just buy a Carvel cake. I’m lucky to have a versatile wife.

A tiger-themed cake

Grandparents & grandkids

Num’s friend and coworker Mara came over to our place to celebrate her birthday. Nums made her (and us) porkshops, roasted asparagus, and potatoes with onions. Dessert was a decorated arrangement of delicious cupcakes. I had to clean up the kitchen afterwards, but it’s a small price to pay for eating like a king.

Birthday cupcakes

I like hanging out with friends. Is that rocket science? Last night, a bunch of us met up in the Rahway/Lindon area for dinner at an Applebee’s to celebrate recent birthdays. Is it me, or is there a lot of junk on the walls?

Dinner @ Applebee's

Julie’s 30th birthday cake

Saturday night, we drove to Philadelphia for my sister’s surprise 30th birthday party. First we dropped off the kids to my sister-in-laws’ for the evening, then we went to pick up the delicious (and lactose-free) cake, and then drove to Philly. The plan was for everyone to meet up at The Mexican Post restaurant at 6:30pm, decorate and get ready. Robbie would bring Julie to meet with Nums and myself for a birthday/anniversary dinner. Julie kinda knew something was going on, but I think she was still surprised when 35 family and friends jumped out screaming at her.

It was a nice venue, and good dinner too. Robbie and his sister Kitty organized a trivia game around Julie’s favorite shows, movies, book series, candy bars, and there were prizes for each winning team. Each prize was related to one my sister’s favorites like Wawa coffee and stuff. My sister and I both like Star TrekGeneration, so I grabbed a tiny replica of the NCC-1701 Enterprise (refit of course!). The Enterprise is currently adorning my cubicle with my Capt. James Kirk figure.

The Enterprise now adorns my lowly cubicle.

Nerds! I’m behind on publishing photos, but I’ll post the pictures in the next few days.

I celebrated my 34th birthday this week. The day itself was nice. Beautiful weather, it was a quiet day in the office, and I even got a free cookie from my local Quizno’s. I had been discussing what to do in the evening. I didn’t want anything big, so I was initially suggesting a family dinner at home or maybe the local diner.

Julie & I

Sometime in the afternoon, I had a change of heart. It was my birthday, and the diner wasn’t feeling very celebratory. On second thought, I changed my mind that a nice dinner at Outback Steakhouse would be a better place. I thought it was my idea, but then I found out my wife had somehow used the Jedi mind trick on me.

While we’re waiting to be seated at Outback, my sister and her husband showed up. Turns out, surprise! My wife had decided on a birthday dinner at Outback days earlier and invited my sister and BIL too. I was very surprised. How did my wife pull the ol’ Jedi mind trick on me?

In regards to dinner, it was nice. Factoid: Thursday marked five years to the day that my wife and I had been to an Outback Steakhouse. The last time she and I had gone was to celebrate my 29th birthday in 2005 a month after Joshua was born [see the April 24 2005 entry.] I remember because our friend Lesh was nice enough to volunteer to watch Joshua for the evening, so that we could go have a nice dinner. Five years later, we celebrate my 34th birthday. Funny, I say. Funny.

This year, Lily turned two years old. Gosh, that went fast.  She’s out of the toddler room, and has moved into the preschool prep classroom. It feels so recent that Josh himself was in that room. Time flies. Now Josh is in Kindergarten Prep, and Lily is drinking from a cup. In another year, I think she’ll be out of diapers. Two kids and no diapers? One can only dream.  

On Saturday, we celebrated Lily’s second birthday with a party at Josh’s gym, which was the same place we celebrated his 3rd birthday (March 2008.) We invited her classmates from her class, and kids from among our circle of family and friends. As usual, a lot of the parents were very late with the RSVPs. What I found ironic was that we received an RSVP for a child we didn’t remember inviting, but we figured the more the merrier.

Lily's 2nd birthday party

The party went well. As usual, my sister and my BIL showed up early to (again) help us with running errands before a party, which included picking up the birthday cake and balloons today. If they didn’t keep swooping in to help us, I think we’d be even later for every major Ipe event. We arrived about 10 mins late to our own party, but since it was at a fully-staffed gym, parents and children were occupied with activities.

Everything went well, and Lily had a very good time. We had Papa John’s (again), because hey, you can’t beat that “$10 per pie with any toppings you want” deal. Nope, you can’t beat it. I think we’re officially done with parties for another year, which is a relief. I’m not a fan of throwing lavish birthday parties any more. Especially with young children, going overboard is pointless. The children themselves enjoy running around, eating their pizza, and drinking from their juice box. They don’t need much more than that.

So to bring this story to a close, remember that family that we didn’t invite, but left a voicemail that they would attend the party? Yeah, they didn’t show up to the party after all. We’re still confused about that one.