Jason's 32nd Birthday

Yup, he's old. Waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy older than I am...by, like, two YEARS. (I only get to do the "two year" thing for two and a half month each year, so I'm living it up.)

So Jay turned 32...a week ago. Lots been happenin' since then, but here's the skinny on his birthday unbash.

My folks kept Ty & Mia overnight Thursday and Friday, and Jay and I hopped in the car Thursday evening and headed out to Temecula, where we checked into the Embassy Suites thanks to some of Jason's Hilton points. Love that he's a diamond member...instant upgrade to one of their executive suites, and they did EVERYTHING they could to meet his requests, like being on a low floor (2nd) and being as far from the elevators as possible (other end of the hall). When I mentioned in making the reservations that it was his birthday and he was a diamond member, they went all out: in our room were two glasses from a local winery, a bottle of sparkling cider, a dozen chocolate-dipped strawberries, and some mints, all with a birthday card for him from Hilton! Plus, ES has a free made-to-order breakfast each morning, so we each had an omelet and picked a few other things from the spread. YUMMY. The night we checked in, however, we were famished, and decided to head to Old Town Temecula to find a restaurant. We wound up at Baily's, a place we'd originally considered for Jay's birthday dinner, and had a great time feasting in the quiet atmosphere where the food was good, the portion size was excellent, the prices weren't too bad, and even though Jason's food order got screwed up and sent to another table making him wait longer, they brought him a different entree "to snack on" while they made his, which they then brought out to him, PLUS they brought him a complimentary dessert AND they struck his entree from the bill! Baily's knows how to correct a gaffe!

The next morning we headed into Wine Country for our own tour, explored a pretty little area called Lake Skinner and its surrounding camping areas, stopped at Thornton Winery for some tasty vittles (since we don't drink, we were relegated to food...which is never a bad thing!) including some garlic-oil cold-poached shrimp, a housemade salumi flatbread pizza, and some herb-marinated goat cheese, among other yummies, and got to explore their facilities a bit. (We'd be to Ponte Winery for Ira and Kerry's wedding a year or so back, but we were really glad to get to explore the vineyards in daylight a little better. WAAAAAYYYY pretty.) I confess, I still don't "get" wine - and my mother would be ashamed, if it weren't for the fact that SHE'S now Mormon - but I DO get grape juice, and I totally get long lines of grapes growing on vines. Neat stuff, people! So then it was back to Old Town to check out some of the stores there. The Cheese Shop was a total disappointment, which makes me sad, but there was also the Temecula Olive Oil Company, and OH MY GOODNESS!!! We may not be "allowed" to participate in a wine tasting, but we CERTAINLY enjoyed the olive oil (and vinegar) tasting! I never imagined that blood orange olive oil with vanilla and fig balsamic vinegar could taste like salad dressing HEAVEN, but next time we have a bit of cash to part with, I'm hopping online to their site and buying both types! (We picked up some Roasted Garlic EVOO...ask Kim, it's goooooooooood!)

From there (this ACTUALLY being Jason's birthday) we headed to Fallbrook, 20 min or so south on the 15. We stayed at the Oak Creek Manor B&B, (look them up!) and had an awesome experience there...partially because the Manor was EXQUISITE, and partially because we were the only guests staying inside the mansion! (There was another couple there, too, but they were outside in the carriage house.) This place was crazy, people. Awesome, but crazy-awesome.

For instance, you enter a big gate, and drive around a circular driveway (circling a fountain!) to park in front of this Manor that looks like Monticello! Inside the entry there's a table with a tea set, and to the left, a hallway to the breakfast room. Straight ahead is a parlor with a wet bar, a chess set, a fireplace, etc, and farther beyond is the hallway that leads to two double doors: our suite. 12' ceilings, 2 large columns, a CA King-sized fourposter bed, a fireplace with chair and ottoman, a breakfasting table, and a marble bathroom with double sinks, a vanity area, uber-plush robes, a 2-headed shower, and a 2-person jetted tub! The room also has a ceiling fan, two more sets of double doors leading to a fountained patio and to an outdoor breakfasting table, a flat-screened TV up above the suite doors for in-bed viewing, and the entire room is wired - along with the rest of the house - for house-wide surround sound with XM radio piped in! We could listen to XM in the tub at a volume we chose using our TV to set it up! The bed was SUPER-plush, and it was quieter than, well, anywhere I've been in, I don't know, months and months. Looooooooved it!

That night we went to Pala Casino for dinner at the Oak Room, where, for the first time, I had Buffalo. Jason had his traditional prime rib, but because it was cut from the animals grass fed on Indian land, he said it was the tastiest, tenderest, best prime rib he'd ever had...and soups, sides, and desserts weren't bad, either. (That was sarcasm. YUM.) We'd budgeted $20 for entertainment, so we played slots for a while (which inevitably meant we sucked for a few minutes while we tried to figure out what the heck we were doing!) and eventually we were actually UP...by...50 cents. Jason wanted to try his hand at blackjack, so I stood by and watched him play (trying to figure out what he was doing) for a while, and when we were down to $5.50 remaining, we cut our losses, shrugging at the $15 we'd "devoted" to 3 hours worth of entertainment, (less than a movie, and we got to interact a whole lot more!) and headed back to the Manor, where we had both a house/room key and a gate clicker, chocolates on our re-made and turned-down bed...and the house to ourselves. I got to wander around the house that night after a bath in my big fluffy robe and slippers, grabbing a couple glasses of lemon ice water from the wet bar without bumping into a single soul in the house. AWESOME.

The next morning I went out at took the photos you see herein, (seriously, I think the room we stayed in would have fit our entire apartment!) and then we went to breakfast, which was served in the dining room with the other two guests from the carriage house. We had fresh OJ, herbal tea, (they had coffee, of course,) praline-topped cinnamon rolls, parfaits, and the piece de la resistance, individual spinach-egg souffles in little heart-shaped crocks with bacon on the side. I also had half a cheese cream-schmeered bagel, but really, who's counting?

Then it was back home, madly throwing things around the apartment and getting ready to collect our kids to take them to a preschool "friend" of Tyler's birthday pool party, where the kids - and the adults! - had a great time in and out of the pool. We couldn't miss it, you see; Karlee, the birthday girl, is as in love with Tyler as a newly five year-old girl could be, and Tyler, like any boy, whether 4 or 24, is more or less oblivious but still enjoys the attention. Arianna and her husband Kevin were excellent hosts, and though we were invited to stay after for the family party, we declined so we could get the kids home, washed, and to bed and have a little more time for ourselves.

All in all it was a brilliant weekend, and I think/hope/believe Jason enjoyed his birthday...whether or not he enjoyed turning 32.

Happy 32nd birthday, Jason. I love you.