Happy Birthday Branden...

Branden turned age 17, October 26th! Considering, I started blogging in the year 2005! You all have virtually watched Bran grow up, since age 4!!! And ya'll have seen Noah grow up his *entire* life, since he was born in 2005! It's no wonder that for many of you. You feel that we're family or a close friend that you get to keep an eye on virtually. You've seen all our ups and all our downs. And all the bumps in between. But seriously, can you guys believe B is 17 years old? Sincerely, thank you for always reading and caring about us. Branden needed more sweatshirts with the cooler weather coming. And so, I drove Bran to Marshalls and also to the shopping mall and he picked out stuff in his style and stuff he liked.  

Bran picked up this Japanese style sweatshirt at Marshalls. I think it was $14. He loved it. At the mall, we hit Old Navy and he went straight for these super warm fleece men's cardigans. They were around $35 bucks each, but on sale, I think originally $40. They look... sorta like a "grandpa sweater", dykwim? But it's updated...and this is modern now...I have seen many stylish young dudes wearing this style now days and plus they're not like itchy wool, that means hand washing and stuff. It's fleece, so super easy toss in the washing machine. So a modern update for this men's cardi. He picked navy and gray. So 3 new sweatshirts for his birthday. 

Plus, please consider he got a huge birthday gift of getting to go to driving school and considering driving school costs $400. Yeah that price tag shocked us, as parents. But, he was super happy about getting to be in driving school. Apparently mostly every state now days makes you... take drivers ed. Granted back in my day? You could take drivers ed at school. But it was optional. It gave you a cheaper insurance rate for your car. But drivers ed was not mandatory. And you could pay $5 bucks to get a drivers permit in Colorado back in the day, if you passed the written test and then 6 month's later, pass the drivers test and pay a small fee of $20 dollars for a drivers license. So considering it was *so* cheap in my day...this $400 stuff, shocks me. But maybe that's just how it's done now days. Also, we purchased Bran's homecoming outfit too. Which was a shocking $165 dollars. I went to homecoming all 4 years back in the day, myself. I bought a dress for $60 dollars, maybe some accessories and that was basically it. Homecoming is supposed to be cheaper than prom. I never realized sons/boys have such expensive stuff to buy. Bow tie was $40!!! Plus dress shoes, dress socks. Vest. Dress pants, dress shirt. OMG! Thank goodness Noboru was here for that, to help us shop for teen guy stuff. Let's just say, October, with homecoming, plus a birthday, plus driving school. Holy crap! Glad October is done. Let's put it nicely like that. 

Noboru told Bran, he could pick any restaurant for his birthday. That we could go and eat as a family of 4, before Noboru went back to Japan. B picked the Red Lobster. Noboru and I were secretly hoping he'd pick The Outback Steakhouse. But he picked The Red Lobster. Which is fine. It's his birthday. 

The 3 of us picked the Endless Shrimp. Noah.... disliking seafood completely had the chicken strip meal. 

Our server was amazing, he was a high school boy/guy and so funny. He had us all laughing. He kept bring out more and more endless cheddar bay biscuits. We all enjoyed our salads. Our sodas, which he refilled them so many times.

The first plate of shrimp wiped me out. I was done. I enjoyed my baked potato and shrimp (fried and scampi). Noah finished his meal and we both munched cheddar garlic biscuits. While we watched Noboru and Branden get refills of more shrimp. They both have such hearty appetites. It was actually funny to watch.

You can pick different types of shrimp, after you finish your original choices you picked. Bran picked the shrimp fettuccine and the panko shrimp as his refill picks. Noboru had the same as his first plate. It was a wonderful birthday dinner, best enjoyed together, as our family of 4. 

October 26th landed on a Friday, this year. Branden had expected dinner at home. Since he had a Drivers Ed driving lesson at 6:30pm that night. And since he knew we celebrated and went out to eat... when his dad was here. But, I had something up my sleeve. You know me. : ) Friday's the kids get out early. And our plan was to go pick up a birthday cake from Walmart and to buy our movie tickets for the next day. I had asked B, where do you want your birthday cake from? Baskin Robbins? DQ? Safeway? Where? We looked all month. The DQ cakes don't have actual sponge cake, just crumbles. So, Bran wanted the cake from Walmart. And I agreed, it looked best. But, before we went to get movie tickets or cake, I made a detour to DQ and we 3 had a quick meal of the $5 buck combo. It was just a little thing, but they were both pleasantly surprised. Which made me happy. They came with free sundaes too. So we were stuffed. Then we went to get the movie tickets, for the next day. And then we went to get his birthday cake. Many different flavors and choices and he picked the one he wanted.

Two layers of actual cake. And it was fresh and soft sponge cake...not...it's been in the freezer for centuries. It was super fresh. The frosting was really delicious light whipped cream. 

The cake was gorgeous. And the best part... it was only $14.99. A perfect price and we each had a slice Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I would definitely buy this cake again. Loved the freshness, loved the flavor, loved the price. When the time came, I zipped Bran to driving school for his lesson and he drove himself back home. It was a quiet birthday. Low key... which as you know, has always been our style. Stress-free birthday. But a nice one. Grandpa in Denver sent birthday money. And Noboru left him some birthday money before he left too. This kid feels loved, there's no doubt about that.

The next day, the 3 of us went to go and see Venom. This movie has been out in the United States for a full month already. I wanted to see it while Noboru was here. But Noboru was like.."it has horrible reviews" And so we didn't see it. As for me, I wanted to see it. Not every review on a movie, I agree with anyways. The kids wanted to see this too. How did we like this movie? We loved it! My kids were even still talking about it the next day. Granted, would I buy the DVD? Probably not. But, I'd see it again in the airplane. We had popcorn with extra butter and movie theater salt. We had large sodas and chocolate bars. We truly had a nice time at the movies. I would have taken them to the movie on his actual birthday but, B had a driving lesson. But yep, a great movie. And a perfect low key relaxing....super chill birthday.