Survivor

Steve tried to escape, but he survived another birthday afterall..............

Admittedly, it has been a tough couple of months/years for the birthday boy: hamstring tear skiing with Rachel, bike accident, Achilles tear and 5 days in the hospital this July with pneumonia, just to mention a few. For a guy who has been empowered by the endorphins of exercise for years, it has been a painful lesson in patience and perserverance.

So . . . . . . . last week, Steve and Eric escaped to the upper penninsula of Michigan for a father-son, I don't-want-to-be hassled-about-being-?0-years-old camping trip.

The scenery was spectacular as the photos attest. They said the sand dunes in the UP make the dunes on Lake Michigan look like ant hills and marveled at the eroded/sculpted cliffs and beaches on Lake Superior.

The boys are already talking about the second annual UP camping trip, but they were glad to finally return home . . .
. . . where they were ambushed upon arrival for a family game of paintball!

(Thanks to Sarah's boyfriend Joel for equipping our SWAT team)

We finished this untraditional birthday party with dinner, old photos (of course) and an untraditional birthday cake.

Looks good, eh? (The "cake" too.)

(He still gets asked if he is Eric's brother.)