Dustin's Birthday 2010
I wasn't up too early today because I knew that there was no rush to getting going. I was up and ready by 10:30 though, because there's just no stalling when you're excited. XD
Bo on the other hand was grumpy. He wasn't feeling well and not too excited about Chris being around. I talked it out with him and he conceded to go eventually. I didn't want to push him but the trip was really for Dustin's birthday and for Bo to buy a PS3. I was concerned about the day ahead based on this but knew I would have fun regardless.
I did get on Facebook for a while to waste some time. Brandon and his "girlfriend" Kalli came over to hang out for a while before we headed out. We took this time to show them the first episode of Better off Ted to both waste time and show Brandon what we have been talking about.
At one point Brandon and Kalli wanted to get gas in her truck but didn't know how to pump it since she was from Oregon and he has never done it before. They wanted my son to go with them to show them. Thing is he hasn't pumped gas before either. The whole thing was an all around amusing ordeal and brought about the joke "How many teenagers does it take to pump gas?" I don't quite know that answer to that one but it seems to be more than 4. XD
Around 1 pm I decided it was about time to start heading out. While everyone was getting together I made the trip over to the bank to get some cash out and to pick up Chris. At first he thought it was just the two of us and I said that there were many people going I just wanted to pick him up first since Kalli was following me. Then we could all leave from my apartment.
Chris asked if we could stop by the Beachway first. I laughed because I knew why but he joked that he wanted to pick up a 6-pack before heading out (since that's usually why he goes there). XD He then said it was for a pack of cigarettes. I knew that because he did that when we went to see TMBG. When he got back to the car I joked with him that he bought an Altoids tin just so he could take rolled cigarettes in, but is too lazy to roll them to take on trips. XD He just laughed and nodded. Hehe.
We got back to my place and I was just going to rally the group and head out. I figured Chris would just stay in the car but he actually got out and went into the house with me. That's his first time at my place. :) I didn't really get a good judge of his reaction because there was just too much going on with all the people we were attempting to herd out the door.
Brandon, Kalli and Tyler were going in Kalli's truck. The rest of us (Me, Bo, Chris and Brendalie) went in my car.
We got everyone together and were just about to leave when my son came running back up to me and almost got run over because I was backing up the car. Turns out he wanted to get his black "Village People" hat to wear on the way down. So we had to open up the house again really quickly so that he could get the hat. -_-
With that out of the way we got on our way. I had set up a long play list to hopefully get us through most of the day without too many repeats. I could tell that Chris liked most of the songs because I caught him singing a long to most of it. ^_^ The trip down was mostly listening to music and trying to keep Kalli behind us.
The first stop as the Vancouver Mall (now called the Westfield mall). Tyler and Brandon wanted to stop at Hot Topic and I didn't mind the extra detour since we had a lot of time to waste before Dustin would be home.
When we got there everyone wanted to go different places at first. Most headed for the bathroom. I wanted something to eat so I headed up to the food court. Chris and Tyler followed me. I seriously thought about something from the Japanese place but decided against it since I just wanted something to tide me over. So I went to Orange Julius and got a small Julius and nachos.
I sat down at a table to eat my food. Chris and Tyler both helped me out with the nachos. I wasn't going to eat them all anyway so I didn't mind sharing. Bo had gone to the bathroom and was now standing next to the table. I invited him to sit down too but he was still in a bad mood. He headed over to Hot Topic where my daughter, Brandon and Kalli now were.
Once we finished the food we also headed over to the store. I had a bad feeling that I would be buying things for people once we got there and wasn't wrong. My son found a pair of socks that he waned and my daughter found some more "Trip" arm covers. -_- I also found some white nail polish that was on sale. :)
I spent most of the time in the store looking over the gauge earrings with Chris. He had just bought a new pair of glass purple ones about two weeks or so ago. He was still on the look out for some stainless ones though. We found a really sweet pair that would have looked great but they were only gauge 2 and Chris figured gauge 4 was the highest he could go for now. He asked if there were any other stores in the mall that might sell those kind of earrings and I said there probably was a Spencer's around and that they might have something.
While we were looking through the case a lady came up to me and asked me about my earrings. She had been sitting next to us in the food court and wanted to ask me where I got my earrings. I told her that they were all hand made. I love that they are unique like that but I some times feel bad for people who want to get a pair just like them. :) The one set that gets the most comments was made by a vendor from Sakura con so I am thinking I will have to get her information and start passing it out after this year. :)
Once everyone was finally done with Hot Topic we headed down the mall to find the Spencer's Gifts. It wasn't too far down the way and we all headed in. Bo didn't want to go in so I suggested he look at Suncoast while we were there.
Of course Spencer's has changed too much over the years and is now one step from being just a sex shop. -_- We did find some really nice earrings there though. I picked out a set that are black and purple chain links and considered picking them up. Chris said he thought they were nice and I asked him which were better, the purple or the silver. He picked purple so I decided to buy those. :)
I showed Bo the earrings and he was very grumpy about it. He said he hated them. -_- I told him that I didn't care because I liked them. :( Bo had come back from Suncoast to tell me that they were going out of business and having a sale of 50% off everything. I decided we would be going there next.
I looked through the Gauge earrings with Chris for a bit but ended up looking for stuff with the kids instead for most of the time. As I was just about at the counter Chris approached me and asked if I would mind giving him back the $20 he had given me for dinner and loaning me $5 more so he could get the earrings. I didn't mind because I could afford it and I know he is good about paying me back. He picked out a set of 4 gauge earrings that used tension and a ball to keep them on. Not bad but I will miss the purple glass ones.
I had them put Chris' earrings with mine so I could just pay for it all at once. Bo didn't seem to happy about this but it's my money and it's not like I am buying the earrings for him, I am just loaning him the money until Wednesday. -_-
After that we headed over to Suncoast to see if there was anything worth picking up. I kind of figured there wouldn't be much but checked it out anyway. There was still a huge anime selection left but nothing I really felt the need to buy even at half price. Chris on the other hand was wishing he had his check this week instead of next week because there were a number of good movies he wanted. Tyler found some pokemon cards and I picked up some for him to balance out the cost between what I had bought for both kids.
While I was buying the cards I told the guy at the register that I was sad that Suncoast was closing. He said it was because they didn't want two stores in the mall so they were consolidating with FYE. I told him that I liked Suncoast better. His only reply was "Most people do." I was surprised at how rude it sounded but how true as well.
After picking up the cards I gathered with everyone who was outside the store by now. We headed down the escalators to head out. I wanted to quickly check out the pet store to see if they had any more kittens in the windows before we headed out. I know this was a bad idea with my daughter around but I did it anyway. As I could have predicted, my daughter went straight into the store and I had to drag her, Brandon and Kalli out. -_-
We finally headed out of the mall around 4pm, which was a LOT later than I had expected to be leaving. We had definitely killed a LOT of time with the mall and we hadn't even made it to Oregon yet!
Once we got to the cars I suddenly had to use the restroom so we didn't get far down the road before I pulled off at the shell station to use the restroom. That was an adventure on it's own since I had to go back and forth between the counter 4 times just to use the one bathroom. It required a key and the guy didn't tell me that at first and then I had to go back and lock it in the end. Good thing I didn't have to go THAT bad or it could have been a disaster. -_-
I got back out to the car and Chris was standing outside smoking a cigarette while everyone waited. When I got back to the car I gave Kalli some direction on how to get to Costco from there but told her just to stick close to me and she would be fine. From there we headed out down Fourth Plain towards I-5 and down to the Aloha Costco.
We pulled into the Costco parking lot and I got to thinking that I should have turned at the light and gone around the back to park on the other side of the building. Instead I went through the parking lot and it was packed. Just after I pulled in to the parking lot the song "Through the Fire and Flames" by Dragonforce started on the iPod and I got to thinking that I had better find a place to park before it finishes (Given that it's a really long song). -_-
It took some doing but we finally made it through the parking lot to park on the other side of Costco. Kalli and Brandon had to find a place quite a bit further out though so we were waiting for them. That's when Chris suggested that we head inside to look for the PS3 and that he could stay outside with the teenagers. That sounded like a good plan to me so Bo and I headed inside.
We went through the entire store and didn't find a PS3. I really didn't want to pick up anything else if we weren't getting the PS3 so we gave up on buying anything when we didn't find the unit and just headed back out the door. For some reason I started to suffer a coughing fit. It was really irritating because I was far away from all liquids. -_-
We got back to the car to find that the Chris was having the kids help him put his new earrings in. XD Because he bought a higher gauge than he is used to they were having a little trouble. The earrings were also designed to be held in using tension on a ball. They got the left earring in find but the one o the right side just didn't want to stay in. Chris just resolved to leave the ball out of the one on the right ear for now since it wouldn't fall out unless some one pulled it out. Which was just about exactly what my daughter did to him not more than a few seconds after we got to them. She some how pulled on his right ear and really hurt him. That's what he gets for having teenagers help him I guess. XD
Once we got back to the car we headed back out. Kalli and Brandon had to head to the truck and catch up with us before we could head out. The problem with that turned out to be when someone realized we were heading out and blocked the way behind us. So I had to try and pull out then move out of the way of everyone and still keep them behind me. After I backed out it turned out that one of the Costco employees was gathering carts right in my path and there was almost no room to maneuver around. I tried anyway and just barely squeezed by between two cars and the line of carts. -_-
Once we were finally out of the parking lot and Kalli was behind us we headed down 158th to Walker and towards Uwajimaya. We passed the Beaverton mall on our way and I briefly thought about stopping at Powells but I didn't want to waste more time or spent that much more money. -_- So I just decided to ditch any other alternate plans we had and just got to Uwajimaya.
Once we parked at Uwajimaya we started to walk in but Bo announced that he was going to walk over to Target to see if they had the PS3. I asked if he was sure he wanted to and he was adamant. So the rest of us headed inside to check out the store. Chris was worried about Bo wandering off on his own. I explained that he wasn't feeling well and was a bad mood. He would be fine and I knew that.
We got into the store and most people headed their own ways. I headed into the bookstore. Chris caught up with me there and I looked through the books. There really wasn't much to see. Initial D book 40 is out but I didn't feel like picking it up at this time. I also looked for the One Piece calendar but they didn't have it anymore (which I was not surprised about).
While I was looking over the books and stuff I noticed Chris messing with his right earring and offered to help him with getting the ball to stay in it again. He made some joke about helping him with his balls. XD I made some joke about oral fixations but I don't remember what exactly I said. -_-
When I didn't find anything to purchase I headed out of the store and into the grocery part. Chris stopped by one of the fridges along the wall and was looking through the selection of Kimchi. He kept looking over and over what they had. I headed down the snack isle to pick up some things I wanted for other people (like dessert pocky for Julie).
Chris stuck with me through most of the isles. He was particularly interested in the spicy sauces section and commented that he would love to just go through everything in the store and pick up various kinds of exotic things to try. He looked around for Ghost chili sauce but didn't find any. I told him that any time he wanted to make a trip down there just for groceries that I would be more than willing drive him. He wanted to head down next Saturday. I was all for it but thought that I might be busy if Tom planned the next gathering then so I told him that I would get back to him on it. Chris seemed to take that for me not being interested so soon and I had to explain that I might be busy that weekend and had to see.
Bo returned about this time empty handed. Apparently Target was also out of PS3s. I told him that rather than looking all over we would just call around when we got to Tom's after this. It would save time and we were sure to find one faster that way.
We then walked down to look at the drink section and I picked up two more of the melon icecream sodas. :) I also picked up more of the pastries and cream horns that I like. Chris checked out the sushi for ideas and looked around the deli as well. Bo was still grumpy but seemed to be reacting to things better now.
I headed to the check out to avoid buying more things. Chris asked if he could borrow the keys to the car so he could smoke while we were checking out. I was fine with it but told him jokingly not to drive of. :) Bo stayed with me in the line while I checked out. As usual the kids brought up some last minute items. -_- Brandon and Kalli had to go back and get theirs though so we waited out by the car for them while they checked out.
When we got to the car Chris tried to trip me up by saying that he locked the keys in the car. I was un-phased because I learned long ago to have a spare set handy for just such a case, but I had a feeling he was joking anyway. He was disappointed that I hadn't reacted more. Hehe. :)
Before getting in the car and heading out I gave Tom a call to tell him we were just heading out from Uwajimayas. He asked if we were having a good time and I told him we were definitely doing more than planned. :)
As we pulled out of the parking lot I commented that I could probably ask Tom for the use of his phone because the call would be local. When I said that out loud Chris insisted that I could use his because he isn't charged for roaming or long distance. I said that would be fine if he didn't mind. I thought that was nice of him to offer.
To get to Tom's we took 217 which was a lot less busy by now and easier for Kalli to follow us. Being dark it was harder to find the streets needed to get to Tom's street but thankfully there weren't many people on the road so going slow didn't bother anyone. XD We got to Tom's house and both parked in the driveway before heading in. My daughter commented as she got out that she hated sloped hills. I had to laugh and said that I really didn't know of any hills that weren't sloped. XD
I got to the door first and rang the bell. When Tom answered I intended to introduce everyone once we were inside but Chris took initiative and introduced himself right off. I had to laugh because he considers himself to be anti social and I never really see that. :) I introduced them again anyway kind of as a joke since Chris had been so quick on the ball. Hehe. I had to wait to introduce Brandon and Kalli because they lagged behind getting to the door.
We sat down and talked for a bit before I remembered that I was going to call around to find the PS3. I asked Tom about phone books and he brought out three to look through. While Tom went to get the books Chris handed me his phone to use. Tom helped me find the Fred Meyers near Dustin and I gave them a call first. That turned out to be all we needed because they had them in stock. Mission accomplished. :)
While we were working on making the phone calls Kalli and Brandon told us they were going outside to drink their Ramune sodas. Soon after Tyler followed them. I was a little concerned because they would be noisy teens outside, but Tom didn't seem to mind so I didn't say anymore about it.
I spent time talking with Bo, Chris and Tom in the living room before the kids came back inside. As I expected Chris and Tom hit it off over football immediately. :)
When the kids came back inside, Bo promptly pointed out the Gundam model in the front room to Brandon who was elated about it. I then asked if I could show Brandon his office. Tom gave the go-ahead so I took Brandon and Kalli back to the office to show off all of Tom's Gundam stuff. Brandon walked in and could only say "WOW! Someone likes everything I do!" hehe I let him look around a bit then ushered everyone out of the room.
I then asked if I could show them the basement. Tom gave the go-ahead to give the full "nickel" tour. I invited Chris to come downstairs and see the projector room too. Brandon picked out the Gundam flag right away! :) He even said he would put up a flagpole just so he could fly it. :) Kalli noticed the stuffed Catbus and liked it. :)
All of the kids loved the big screen and projector. Even Chris commented about playing Zelda on the big screen. :) Just like the office I didn't keep people downstairs long. I figured it would be too much to let them stay downstairs too long so I ushered the kids back upstairs pretty quickly.
When we got back upstairs that reminded me about the drive cases and the money I owed Tom so I got it out and gave it to him before I forgot again. He asked what it was for and I reminded him about the drive cases. I don't know if he expected that I would be paying him back for them but I didn't want to forget. :)
After that the kids all sat in the living room with Chris on the couch. Bo and Tom were hanging out in the dining room area so I went in there to talk. I grabbed a glass of water to take some more ibuprofen and keep my tooth pain at bay. It reminded me to mention to Tom that he needed some funnels. I told him about trying to pour the oil from the fondue back into the jug and having trouble. Tom apologized and I just said that we would have to get funnels next on the list for his kitchen. :)
While I was talking with Bo and Tom it became apparent that the teens were driving Chris to move who eventually came into the dining room too. :) It was around this time that Tom brought over the book he had recently purchased. It is a book for the newest One Piece movie (the 10th movie I guess). It came with information on the new movie, recaps of the story archs and playing cards. :) I took my time looking through the book wishing I had noticed it when I was in Kinokunia just an hour before. -_- The new movie looks awesome and I can't wait to see it. :)
I then noticed Tom's Haruhi figured on his shelf and went to look at it. He said it came in the Newtype for the month. I also showed Chris the Vikings crystal cube that I had bought for Tom for Christmas. We discussed how it might be possible to get it to stay on purple but it would take some doing since the base is set to rotate between colors and the purple is actually the red and blue together.
While we are talking in the dining room Brandon and Kalli are teasing Tyler who has fallen asleep on the papasan chair. They unwrapped a bunch of the butterscotch candies from Tom's coffee table and put them in Tyler's mouth. XD Tom joked that I should get one of the sausages out of the fridge to put in his mouth too. XD That would have definitely been interesting.
I was worried that he might choke on them so I had them wake him up. Then I wished I had my iPod inside to take a video of it. -_- I had left it in the car… of all times for that! -_- When Tyler woke up he wasn't sure what was going on and made some really funny faces as he tried to figure out how he got so much stuff in his mouth. :)
Right about that time my cell phone went off. I knew by the ring that it was Dustin. He asked when we were heading over there because he was off work a little early and wanted to make sure we were at the restaurant as close to 7:30 as possible. I told him that we were just waiting until 7pm (which it wasn't quite that time yet) and that we would be heading out shortly from Tom's.
Once I got off the phone I worked at getting everyone ready to leave. As Chris got up from the dining room he hit on the second subject that I knew he would be connect with Tom through. He asked Tom where he got the bottles of alcohol that Tom has displayed on shelves in his dining room.
Around 7pm we all headed out to Dustin's place. Tom took his own car so that he could leave when he was ready to go and we could just stay and visit at Dustin's. Once I was sure everyone was lined up we headed out down the road. We got on and took Murray all the way down to Walker. That was probably the quickest that trip has ever been for me. :)
Everyone managed to stay with me until we got to the left turn at Walker. Tom got stuck behind the light. I continued on to Dustin's apartment complex because it wasn't too far up the road and we pulled just inside the driveway to wait for Tom. I then called him to let him know what the complex name was and where it was located so he could quickly find us.
Once he caught up we headed in to where Dustin's apartment is located. Brandon, Kalli, Tyler and Bo headed up first to be the first in the door. My daughter was right in front of me and Tom right behind. Chris stayed behind to get a smoke in before going inside. Dustin was still at the door receiving people and I told him that it was only going to get better as Tom followed me in the door.
Dustin offers Tyler an Aussie bite and everyone gathers in the kitchen to have one. XD While they are all talking I peer out the door to see where Chris is. He was just heading up the stairs. So I motioned him to come into the kitchen and Dustin was excited to see him too! :D
I got a few videos of people interacting and Brandon introducing Kalli to Dustin. :) We also got videos of people wearing Tyler's "captains" hat. XD We spent some time visiting before it was time to head to dinner.
Around 7:30 we headed out the door for dinner. The plan was to eat at Sweet Tomatoes, which is a place up the street off of 158th. I had seen it on our way in earlier when we headed to Costco so I knew where we were going. I also suggested that we try to consolidate cars so we weren't all driving cars to the restaurant. Brandon, Tyler and Kalli rode with Dustin and Suzie to there restaurant. Tom opted to take his car so he could leave from the restaurant if he wanted. The rest of us headed over in my car.
Of course I got lost on the way and took a wrong turn. As it turned out I probably could have gotten there from the turn I took but I didn't know that. We still ended up getting a prime parking spot right near the door though. :)
Dustin gave me one of the two coupons he had so that we could get some of the meals at a reduced price. Then he walked us through how it worked out. The salad bar is first and you get all your food for that before paying for the meal. Dustin and Suzie grabbed two round plates each and a tray. I spotted an old school cafeteria tray and had to go for that! :) I found the selections for salad to be interesting.
When we got to the front we talked to them about how many were in our party and how to best use the coupons. The lady at the counter said she would put us all on the coupons so we didn't have to worry about how to split it all up. I paid for all five in my party (Chris gave me $20 earlier to cover his share of dinner). I had to point out Chris since he was a little further down the line so I said he was the one with the beard. :) I was amused that the total for all 5 of us was only $55! That's not bad. :D
The restaurant had a table set up for us in the back along the wall so we go situated in our seats after paying and getting the salads. The table was half a booth though which I could see making it a problem for people on the booth side of the table. Tom and Chris ended up seated at one end and seemed to hit it off pretty well.
I wandered off and discovered the soups, pastas and breads. There was a really good selection of food. :) I also tried out the Mojito Green Tea, which was good at first but too much later. It was a very minty Green Tea. I was impressed that Chris got the name of the drink right off before I even said it. :) I had him try it out before I told him what it was. I ended up getting diet soda after that.
Chris was seated at one end of the table and on the booth side. He was also seated near an exit and a fire extinguisher. Getting out of his side of the table was a production almost. At one point I laughed and joked with him that I would be worried if the fire extinguisher disappeared one of these times when he got up. XD
Around 9 pm we decided it was time to leave. Chris had already beat us outside to get in another smoke before people wanted to head back to the apartment. So we all reconvened outside. I figured Tom would be heading home about this time because of the time. We all talked for a bit and Tom thanked Dustin for allowing him to join us. I then gave him a hug before he headed out and we headed back to our car.
Instead of heading straight back to Dustin's Bo, Chris, my daughter and I headed over to Fred Meyers to pick up the PS3 we had called about earlier. Chris took the time to use the restroom and get in another smoke. XD My daughter naturally managed to find something else for me to purchase for her. XD Bo was happy with his system and called that good.
I talked with Bo a little to see how he was doing. He as feeling better by now but still not feeling much less sick. At least his attitude had improved.
After picking up the stuff from Fred Meyer we headed back to Dustin's. I noticed right away that Kalli's truck was gone. Apparently she had to head home so she and Brandon took off already. We decided to stick around for a while.
It was around this time that I remembered about the gift card I had picked up for Suzie for her Christmas gift. I gave her the $15 Michaels gift card and she was so excited that she gave me a hug! :D
I had Bo get my laptop out of the car at this point so I could show Dustin the pictures from Tom's Christmas party and the one's I took up along Coal Creek road. :) I was happy to show them off and glad that I got to show them to Chris too (whom I figured hadn't look at them on Facebook yet).
Tyler was so tired from the day that he passed out on Dustin's living room floor. Well it became an amusing thing because he started snoring really loudly and would often interrupt the conversation at different times. So I brought out my iPod and got some videos of it. :)
Around 11pm we decided it was getting time to head home. We gathered everything and everyone up and headed out. I commented to Suzie that I liked her candle in the bathroom before we left and she gave me a spare one she had. :)
For the ride back Chris was unfortunately stuck in the back with both of the teenagers and Tyler again fell asleep and started snoring. I hoped it wasn't too irritating for Chris being cramped in the back with them and having to deal with the snoring. I tried to sleep on the way home in the front seat but Tyler's snoring was keeping me up too. -_-
When we got to Chris' apartment I got out of the car and apologized for the ride back. Chris just commented that there was no other way to put people in the back and seemed to be in a genuinely good mood. I gave him a hug and he headed inside as we headed home.
This day was about as awesome as the come and I really enjoyed all the company and the fun time we had. It seemed like I might drag on but in reality it went by so fast I hardly knew it was going by. It was definitely one of the best trips I have taken with friends. I enjoyed everyone even Bo with his grumpy attitude. I have to say that my time spent with Chris was some of the best though. We just seemed to be connecting right with everything today. I also enjoyed chatting with Tom about the new One Piece movie! :D It was an awesome day all the way around and I felt really good on the way home. I am sure that Dustin had an awesome birthday gathering too!
Bo on the other hand was grumpy. He wasn't feeling well and not too excited about Chris being around. I talked it out with him and he conceded to go eventually. I didn't want to push him but the trip was really for Dustin's birthday and for Bo to buy a PS3. I was concerned about the day ahead based on this but knew I would have fun regardless.
I did get on Facebook for a while to waste some time. Brandon and his "girlfriend" Kalli came over to hang out for a while before we headed out. We took this time to show them the first episode of Better off Ted to both waste time and show Brandon what we have been talking about.
At one point Brandon and Kalli wanted to get gas in her truck but didn't know how to pump it since she was from Oregon and he has never done it before. They wanted my son to go with them to show them. Thing is he hasn't pumped gas before either. The whole thing was an all around amusing ordeal and brought about the joke "How many teenagers does it take to pump gas?" I don't quite know that answer to that one but it seems to be more than 4. XD
Around 1 pm I decided it was about time to start heading out. While everyone was getting together I made the trip over to the bank to get some cash out and to pick up Chris. At first he thought it was just the two of us and I said that there were many people going I just wanted to pick him up first since Kalli was following me. Then we could all leave from my apartment.
Chris asked if we could stop by the Beachway first. I laughed because I knew why but he joked that he wanted to pick up a 6-pack before heading out (since that's usually why he goes there). XD He then said it was for a pack of cigarettes. I knew that because he did that when we went to see TMBG. When he got back to the car I joked with him that he bought an Altoids tin just so he could take rolled cigarettes in, but is too lazy to roll them to take on trips. XD He just laughed and nodded. Hehe.
We got back to my place and I was just going to rally the group and head out. I figured Chris would just stay in the car but he actually got out and went into the house with me. That's his first time at my place. :) I didn't really get a good judge of his reaction because there was just too much going on with all the people we were attempting to herd out the door.
Brandon, Kalli and Tyler were going in Kalli's truck. The rest of us (Me, Bo, Chris and Brendalie) went in my car.
We got everyone together and were just about to leave when my son came running back up to me and almost got run over because I was backing up the car. Turns out he wanted to get his black "Village People" hat to wear on the way down. So we had to open up the house again really quickly so that he could get the hat. -_-
With that out of the way we got on our way. I had set up a long play list to hopefully get us through most of the day without too many repeats. I could tell that Chris liked most of the songs because I caught him singing a long to most of it. ^_^ The trip down was mostly listening to music and trying to keep Kalli behind us.
The first stop as the Vancouver Mall (now called the Westfield mall). Tyler and Brandon wanted to stop at Hot Topic and I didn't mind the extra detour since we had a lot of time to waste before Dustin would be home.
When we got there everyone wanted to go different places at first. Most headed for the bathroom. I wanted something to eat so I headed up to the food court. Chris and Tyler followed me. I seriously thought about something from the Japanese place but decided against it since I just wanted something to tide me over. So I went to Orange Julius and got a small Julius and nachos.
I sat down at a table to eat my food. Chris and Tyler both helped me out with the nachos. I wasn't going to eat them all anyway so I didn't mind sharing. Bo had gone to the bathroom and was now standing next to the table. I invited him to sit down too but he was still in a bad mood. He headed over to Hot Topic where my daughter, Brandon and Kalli now were.
Once we finished the food we also headed over to the store. I had a bad feeling that I would be buying things for people once we got there and wasn't wrong. My son found a pair of socks that he waned and my daughter found some more "Trip" arm covers. -_- I also found some white nail polish that was on sale. :)
I spent most of the time in the store looking over the gauge earrings with Chris. He had just bought a new pair of glass purple ones about two weeks or so ago. He was still on the look out for some stainless ones though. We found a really sweet pair that would have looked great but they were only gauge 2 and Chris figured gauge 4 was the highest he could go for now. He asked if there were any other stores in the mall that might sell those kind of earrings and I said there probably was a Spencer's around and that they might have something.
While we were looking through the case a lady came up to me and asked me about my earrings. She had been sitting next to us in the food court and wanted to ask me where I got my earrings. I told her that they were all hand made. I love that they are unique like that but I some times feel bad for people who want to get a pair just like them. :) The one set that gets the most comments was made by a vendor from Sakura con so I am thinking I will have to get her information and start passing it out after this year. :)
Once everyone was finally done with Hot Topic we headed down the mall to find the Spencer's Gifts. It wasn't too far down the way and we all headed in. Bo didn't want to go in so I suggested he look at Suncoast while we were there.
Of course Spencer's has changed too much over the years and is now one step from being just a sex shop. -_- We did find some really nice earrings there though. I picked out a set that are black and purple chain links and considered picking them up. Chris said he thought they were nice and I asked him which were better, the purple or the silver. He picked purple so I decided to buy those. :)
I showed Bo the earrings and he was very grumpy about it. He said he hated them. -_- I told him that I didn't care because I liked them. :( Bo had come back from Suncoast to tell me that they were going out of business and having a sale of 50% off everything. I decided we would be going there next.
I looked through the Gauge earrings with Chris for a bit but ended up looking for stuff with the kids instead for most of the time. As I was just about at the counter Chris approached me and asked if I would mind giving him back the $20 he had given me for dinner and loaning me $5 more so he could get the earrings. I didn't mind because I could afford it and I know he is good about paying me back. He picked out a set of 4 gauge earrings that used tension and a ball to keep them on. Not bad but I will miss the purple glass ones.
I had them put Chris' earrings with mine so I could just pay for it all at once. Bo didn't seem to happy about this but it's my money and it's not like I am buying the earrings for him, I am just loaning him the money until Wednesday. -_-
After that we headed over to Suncoast to see if there was anything worth picking up. I kind of figured there wouldn't be much but checked it out anyway. There was still a huge anime selection left but nothing I really felt the need to buy even at half price. Chris on the other hand was wishing he had his check this week instead of next week because there were a number of good movies he wanted. Tyler found some pokemon cards and I picked up some for him to balance out the cost between what I had bought for both kids.
While I was buying the cards I told the guy at the register that I was sad that Suncoast was closing. He said it was because they didn't want two stores in the mall so they were consolidating with FYE. I told him that I liked Suncoast better. His only reply was "Most people do." I was surprised at how rude it sounded but how true as well.
After picking up the cards I gathered with everyone who was outside the store by now. We headed down the escalators to head out. I wanted to quickly check out the pet store to see if they had any more kittens in the windows before we headed out. I know this was a bad idea with my daughter around but I did it anyway. As I could have predicted, my daughter went straight into the store and I had to drag her, Brandon and Kalli out. -_-
We finally headed out of the mall around 4pm, which was a LOT later than I had expected to be leaving. We had definitely killed a LOT of time with the mall and we hadn't even made it to Oregon yet!
Once we got to the cars I suddenly had to use the restroom so we didn't get far down the road before I pulled off at the shell station to use the restroom. That was an adventure on it's own since I had to go back and forth between the counter 4 times just to use the one bathroom. It required a key and the guy didn't tell me that at first and then I had to go back and lock it in the end. Good thing I didn't have to go THAT bad or it could have been a disaster. -_-
I got back out to the car and Chris was standing outside smoking a cigarette while everyone waited. When I got back to the car I gave Kalli some direction on how to get to Costco from there but told her just to stick close to me and she would be fine. From there we headed out down Fourth Plain towards I-5 and down to the Aloha Costco.
We pulled into the Costco parking lot and I got to thinking that I should have turned at the light and gone around the back to park on the other side of the building. Instead I went through the parking lot and it was packed. Just after I pulled in to the parking lot the song "Through the Fire and Flames" by Dragonforce started on the iPod and I got to thinking that I had better find a place to park before it finishes (Given that it's a really long song). -_-
It took some doing but we finally made it through the parking lot to park on the other side of Costco. Kalli and Brandon had to find a place quite a bit further out though so we were waiting for them. That's when Chris suggested that we head inside to look for the PS3 and that he could stay outside with the teenagers. That sounded like a good plan to me so Bo and I headed inside.
We went through the entire store and didn't find a PS3. I really didn't want to pick up anything else if we weren't getting the PS3 so we gave up on buying anything when we didn't find the unit and just headed back out the door. For some reason I started to suffer a coughing fit. It was really irritating because I was far away from all liquids. -_-
We got back to the car to find that the Chris was having the kids help him put his new earrings in. XD Because he bought a higher gauge than he is used to they were having a little trouble. The earrings were also designed to be held in using tension on a ball. They got the left earring in find but the one o the right side just didn't want to stay in. Chris just resolved to leave the ball out of the one on the right ear for now since it wouldn't fall out unless some one pulled it out. Which was just about exactly what my daughter did to him not more than a few seconds after we got to them. She some how pulled on his right ear and really hurt him. That's what he gets for having teenagers help him I guess. XD
Once we got back to the car we headed back out. Kalli and Brandon had to head to the truck and catch up with us before we could head out. The problem with that turned out to be when someone realized we were heading out and blocked the way behind us. So I had to try and pull out then move out of the way of everyone and still keep them behind me. After I backed out it turned out that one of the Costco employees was gathering carts right in my path and there was almost no room to maneuver around. I tried anyway and just barely squeezed by between two cars and the line of carts. -_-
Once we were finally out of the parking lot and Kalli was behind us we headed down 158th to Walker and towards Uwajimaya. We passed the Beaverton mall on our way and I briefly thought about stopping at Powells but I didn't want to waste more time or spent that much more money. -_- So I just decided to ditch any other alternate plans we had and just got to Uwajimaya.
Once we parked at Uwajimaya we started to walk in but Bo announced that he was going to walk over to Target to see if they had the PS3. I asked if he was sure he wanted to and he was adamant. So the rest of us headed inside to check out the store. Chris was worried about Bo wandering off on his own. I explained that he wasn't feeling well and was a bad mood. He would be fine and I knew that.
We got into the store and most people headed their own ways. I headed into the bookstore. Chris caught up with me there and I looked through the books. There really wasn't much to see. Initial D book 40 is out but I didn't feel like picking it up at this time. I also looked for the One Piece calendar but they didn't have it anymore (which I was not surprised about).
While I was looking over the books and stuff I noticed Chris messing with his right earring and offered to help him with getting the ball to stay in it again. He made some joke about helping him with his balls. XD I made some joke about oral fixations but I don't remember what exactly I said. -_-
When I didn't find anything to purchase I headed out of the store and into the grocery part. Chris stopped by one of the fridges along the wall and was looking through the selection of Kimchi. He kept looking over and over what they had. I headed down the snack isle to pick up some things I wanted for other people (like dessert pocky for Julie).
Chris stuck with me through most of the isles. He was particularly interested in the spicy sauces section and commented that he would love to just go through everything in the store and pick up various kinds of exotic things to try. He looked around for Ghost chili sauce but didn't find any. I told him that any time he wanted to make a trip down there just for groceries that I would be more than willing drive him. He wanted to head down next Saturday. I was all for it but thought that I might be busy if Tom planned the next gathering then so I told him that I would get back to him on it. Chris seemed to take that for me not being interested so soon and I had to explain that I might be busy that weekend and had to see.
Bo returned about this time empty handed. Apparently Target was also out of PS3s. I told him that rather than looking all over we would just call around when we got to Tom's after this. It would save time and we were sure to find one faster that way.
We then walked down to look at the drink section and I picked up two more of the melon icecream sodas. :) I also picked up more of the pastries and cream horns that I like. Chris checked out the sushi for ideas and looked around the deli as well. Bo was still grumpy but seemed to be reacting to things better now.
I headed to the check out to avoid buying more things. Chris asked if he could borrow the keys to the car so he could smoke while we were checking out. I was fine with it but told him jokingly not to drive of. :) Bo stayed with me in the line while I checked out. As usual the kids brought up some last minute items. -_- Brandon and Kalli had to go back and get theirs though so we waited out by the car for them while they checked out.
When we got to the car Chris tried to trip me up by saying that he locked the keys in the car. I was un-phased because I learned long ago to have a spare set handy for just such a case, but I had a feeling he was joking anyway. He was disappointed that I hadn't reacted more. Hehe. :)
Before getting in the car and heading out I gave Tom a call to tell him we were just heading out from Uwajimayas. He asked if we were having a good time and I told him we were definitely doing more than planned. :)
As we pulled out of the parking lot I commented that I could probably ask Tom for the use of his phone because the call would be local. When I said that out loud Chris insisted that I could use his because he isn't charged for roaming or long distance. I said that would be fine if he didn't mind. I thought that was nice of him to offer.
To get to Tom's we took 217 which was a lot less busy by now and easier for Kalli to follow us. Being dark it was harder to find the streets needed to get to Tom's street but thankfully there weren't many people on the road so going slow didn't bother anyone. XD We got to Tom's house and both parked in the driveway before heading in. My daughter commented as she got out that she hated sloped hills. I had to laugh and said that I really didn't know of any hills that weren't sloped. XD
I got to the door first and rang the bell. When Tom answered I intended to introduce everyone once we were inside but Chris took initiative and introduced himself right off. I had to laugh because he considers himself to be anti social and I never really see that. :) I introduced them again anyway kind of as a joke since Chris had been so quick on the ball. Hehe. I had to wait to introduce Brandon and Kalli because they lagged behind getting to the door.
We sat down and talked for a bit before I remembered that I was going to call around to find the PS3. I asked Tom about phone books and he brought out three to look through. While Tom went to get the books Chris handed me his phone to use. Tom helped me find the Fred Meyers near Dustin and I gave them a call first. That turned out to be all we needed because they had them in stock. Mission accomplished. :)
While we were working on making the phone calls Kalli and Brandon told us they were going outside to drink their Ramune sodas. Soon after Tyler followed them. I was a little concerned because they would be noisy teens outside, but Tom didn't seem to mind so I didn't say anymore about it.
I spent time talking with Bo, Chris and Tom in the living room before the kids came back inside. As I expected Chris and Tom hit it off over football immediately. :)
When the kids came back inside, Bo promptly pointed out the Gundam model in the front room to Brandon who was elated about it. I then asked if I could show Brandon his office. Tom gave the go-ahead so I took Brandon and Kalli back to the office to show off all of Tom's Gundam stuff. Brandon walked in and could only say "WOW! Someone likes everything I do!" hehe I let him look around a bit then ushered everyone out of the room.
I then asked if I could show them the basement. Tom gave the go-ahead to give the full "nickel" tour. I invited Chris to come downstairs and see the projector room too. Brandon picked out the Gundam flag right away! :) He even said he would put up a flagpole just so he could fly it. :) Kalli noticed the stuffed Catbus and liked it. :)
All of the kids loved the big screen and projector. Even Chris commented about playing Zelda on the big screen. :) Just like the office I didn't keep people downstairs long. I figured it would be too much to let them stay downstairs too long so I ushered the kids back upstairs pretty quickly.
When we got back upstairs that reminded me about the drive cases and the money I owed Tom so I got it out and gave it to him before I forgot again. He asked what it was for and I reminded him about the drive cases. I don't know if he expected that I would be paying him back for them but I didn't want to forget. :)
After that the kids all sat in the living room with Chris on the couch. Bo and Tom were hanging out in the dining room area so I went in there to talk. I grabbed a glass of water to take some more ibuprofen and keep my tooth pain at bay. It reminded me to mention to Tom that he needed some funnels. I told him about trying to pour the oil from the fondue back into the jug and having trouble. Tom apologized and I just said that we would have to get funnels next on the list for his kitchen. :)
While I was talking with Bo and Tom it became apparent that the teens were driving Chris to move who eventually came into the dining room too. :) It was around this time that Tom brought over the book he had recently purchased. It is a book for the newest One Piece movie (the 10th movie I guess). It came with information on the new movie, recaps of the story archs and playing cards. :) I took my time looking through the book wishing I had noticed it when I was in Kinokunia just an hour before. -_- The new movie looks awesome and I can't wait to see it. :)
I then noticed Tom's Haruhi figured on his shelf and went to look at it. He said it came in the Newtype for the month. I also showed Chris the Vikings crystal cube that I had bought for Tom for Christmas. We discussed how it might be possible to get it to stay on purple but it would take some doing since the base is set to rotate between colors and the purple is actually the red and blue together.
While we are talking in the dining room Brandon and Kalli are teasing Tyler who has fallen asleep on the papasan chair. They unwrapped a bunch of the butterscotch candies from Tom's coffee table and put them in Tyler's mouth. XD Tom joked that I should get one of the sausages out of the fridge to put in his mouth too. XD That would have definitely been interesting.
I was worried that he might choke on them so I had them wake him up. Then I wished I had my iPod inside to take a video of it. -_- I had left it in the car… of all times for that! -_- When Tyler woke up he wasn't sure what was going on and made some really funny faces as he tried to figure out how he got so much stuff in his mouth. :)
Right about that time my cell phone went off. I knew by the ring that it was Dustin. He asked when we were heading over there because he was off work a little early and wanted to make sure we were at the restaurant as close to 7:30 as possible. I told him that we were just waiting until 7pm (which it wasn't quite that time yet) and that we would be heading out shortly from Tom's.
Once I got off the phone I worked at getting everyone ready to leave. As Chris got up from the dining room he hit on the second subject that I knew he would be connect with Tom through. He asked Tom where he got the bottles of alcohol that Tom has displayed on shelves in his dining room.
Around 7pm we all headed out to Dustin's place. Tom took his own car so that he could leave when he was ready to go and we could just stay and visit at Dustin's. Once I was sure everyone was lined up we headed out down the road. We got on and took Murray all the way down to Walker. That was probably the quickest that trip has ever been for me. :)
Everyone managed to stay with me until we got to the left turn at Walker. Tom got stuck behind the light. I continued on to Dustin's apartment complex because it wasn't too far up the road and we pulled just inside the driveway to wait for Tom. I then called him to let him know what the complex name was and where it was located so he could quickly find us.
Once he caught up we headed in to where Dustin's apartment is located. Brandon, Kalli, Tyler and Bo headed up first to be the first in the door. My daughter was right in front of me and Tom right behind. Chris stayed behind to get a smoke in before going inside. Dustin was still at the door receiving people and I told him that it was only going to get better as Tom followed me in the door.
Dustin offers Tyler an Aussie bite and everyone gathers in the kitchen to have one. XD While they are all talking I peer out the door to see where Chris is. He was just heading up the stairs. So I motioned him to come into the kitchen and Dustin was excited to see him too! :D
I got a few videos of people interacting and Brandon introducing Kalli to Dustin. :) We also got videos of people wearing Tyler's "captains" hat. XD We spent some time visiting before it was time to head to dinner.
Around 7:30 we headed out the door for dinner. The plan was to eat at Sweet Tomatoes, which is a place up the street off of 158th. I had seen it on our way in earlier when we headed to Costco so I knew where we were going. I also suggested that we try to consolidate cars so we weren't all driving cars to the restaurant. Brandon, Tyler and Kalli rode with Dustin and Suzie to there restaurant. Tom opted to take his car so he could leave from the restaurant if he wanted. The rest of us headed over in my car.
Of course I got lost on the way and took a wrong turn. As it turned out I probably could have gotten there from the turn I took but I didn't know that. We still ended up getting a prime parking spot right near the door though. :)
Dustin gave me one of the two coupons he had so that we could get some of the meals at a reduced price. Then he walked us through how it worked out. The salad bar is first and you get all your food for that before paying for the meal. Dustin and Suzie grabbed two round plates each and a tray. I spotted an old school cafeteria tray and had to go for that! :) I found the selections for salad to be interesting.
When we got to the front we talked to them about how many were in our party and how to best use the coupons. The lady at the counter said she would put us all on the coupons so we didn't have to worry about how to split it all up. I paid for all five in my party (Chris gave me $20 earlier to cover his share of dinner). I had to point out Chris since he was a little further down the line so I said he was the one with the beard. :) I was amused that the total for all 5 of us was only $55! That's not bad. :D
The restaurant had a table set up for us in the back along the wall so we go situated in our seats after paying and getting the salads. The table was half a booth though which I could see making it a problem for people on the booth side of the table. Tom and Chris ended up seated at one end and seemed to hit it off pretty well.
I wandered off and discovered the soups, pastas and breads. There was a really good selection of food. :) I also tried out the Mojito Green Tea, which was good at first but too much later. It was a very minty Green Tea. I was impressed that Chris got the name of the drink right off before I even said it. :) I had him try it out before I told him what it was. I ended up getting diet soda after that.
Chris was seated at one end of the table and on the booth side. He was also seated near an exit and a fire extinguisher. Getting out of his side of the table was a production almost. At one point I laughed and joked with him that I would be worried if the fire extinguisher disappeared one of these times when he got up. XD
Around 9 pm we decided it was time to leave. Chris had already beat us outside to get in another smoke before people wanted to head back to the apartment. So we all reconvened outside. I figured Tom would be heading home about this time because of the time. We all talked for a bit and Tom thanked Dustin for allowing him to join us. I then gave him a hug before he headed out and we headed back to our car.
Instead of heading straight back to Dustin's Bo, Chris, my daughter and I headed over to Fred Meyers to pick up the PS3 we had called about earlier. Chris took the time to use the restroom and get in another smoke. XD My daughter naturally managed to find something else for me to purchase for her. XD Bo was happy with his system and called that good.
I talked with Bo a little to see how he was doing. He as feeling better by now but still not feeling much less sick. At least his attitude had improved.
After picking up the stuff from Fred Meyer we headed back to Dustin's. I noticed right away that Kalli's truck was gone. Apparently she had to head home so she and Brandon took off already. We decided to stick around for a while.
It was around this time that I remembered about the gift card I had picked up for Suzie for her Christmas gift. I gave her the $15 Michaels gift card and she was so excited that she gave me a hug! :D
I had Bo get my laptop out of the car at this point so I could show Dustin the pictures from Tom's Christmas party and the one's I took up along Coal Creek road. :) I was happy to show them off and glad that I got to show them to Chris too (whom I figured hadn't look at them on Facebook yet).
Tyler was so tired from the day that he passed out on Dustin's living room floor. Well it became an amusing thing because he started snoring really loudly and would often interrupt the conversation at different times. So I brought out my iPod and got some videos of it. :)
Around 11pm we decided it was getting time to head home. We gathered everything and everyone up and headed out. I commented to Suzie that I liked her candle in the bathroom before we left and she gave me a spare one she had. :)
For the ride back Chris was unfortunately stuck in the back with both of the teenagers and Tyler again fell asleep and started snoring. I hoped it wasn't too irritating for Chris being cramped in the back with them and having to deal with the snoring. I tried to sleep on the way home in the front seat but Tyler's snoring was keeping me up too. -_-
When we got to Chris' apartment I got out of the car and apologized for the ride back. Chris just commented that there was no other way to put people in the back and seemed to be in a genuinely good mood. I gave him a hug and he headed inside as we headed home.
This day was about as awesome as the come and I really enjoyed all the company and the fun time we had. It seemed like I might drag on but in reality it went by so fast I hardly knew it was going by. It was definitely one of the best trips I have taken with friends. I enjoyed everyone even Bo with his grumpy attitude. I have to say that my time spent with Chris was some of the best though. We just seemed to be connecting right with everything today. I also enjoyed chatting with Tom about the new One Piece movie! :D It was an awesome day all the way around and I felt really good on the way home. I am sure that Dustin had an awesome birthday gathering too!