30

On Monday I turned 30 years old. I'm not sure what that means, because I still feel the same. At least I got some gifts and a party.

When I came home on Monday from work, Jessi and Jaydn had decorated the house with balloons.

Jaydn had written down a list of games that we could play for my birthday. The list included "paper airplane toss," "toy car race," "frowny," (whoever keeps a frown for the longest time wins), "guess what's inside the blanket," "musical chairs," and "dance to the music" (when the music stops, stop dancing). So we played Jaydn's games and then got some Chinese food.

We got our food at "Hong Kong House," which claims to be "an Oriental feast." We got "Dinner for 2" on the menu, on the recommendation of my co-clerk, Mike. This was probably the biggest "dinner for 2" you could get anywhere for $29:

On Tuesday, Jessi called me at work and lured me to get off early and go to the beach. "After all, it's your birthday," she said. Well, technically, it's not, but since I've been married birthdays are really "birth months." I met her at the beach near the IBM Laundromat, right under the gaze of Rainmaker Mountain. The water wasn't very clear, but we made our way out past the reef so we were in the deep, ocean water of Pago Pago harbor (but not actually IN the harbor; that would be disgusting water!). This was the deepest water I had ever snorkeled in, and it was really clear and beautiful. This spot is highly recommended for future trips.

My birth-week culminated with a not-so-"surprise" birthday party at the Corry's on Friday night. Jason Corry is rich from his muti-million dollar Frito Lay chip business, so they have a Western-style house with ACTUAL WALLS and air conditioning! We go there often for games and food.

Jessi made me a wonderful carrot cake (my second favorite kind of cake) and we played games all night.

Jaydn gave me some last-second help with blowing out the candles.

The Corry's had a chocolate fondue fountain, of which Jaydn took full advantage (see, e.g., the chocolate mustache and beard):

Jessi was also a fan:

And a fun time was had by all.