Brent's Birthday Weekend

This weekend was a lot of fun. Friday, November 16, 2007, Brent turned 28. His brother, Jesse, came to visit because he interviewed with The University of Pennsylvania Dental School and so he took a bus from Pennsylvania and stayed with us for the weekend. Brent and Jesse had fun during the day on Friday. They had New York bagels for breakfast, reminisced in Little Brazil (they both went to Recife, Brazil on their missions), and devoured Indian food to their stomachs' content at Indian Taj. I got off of work a little early and we checked out the art pieces at The MET, aka The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was extremely excited because they had a gallery with Roman and Greek art. I have always been enamored of Roman and Greek mythology, art, and architecture since I was a little girl. Needless to say, I was engrossed in the art work. I particularly enjoyed seeing Roman sculptures of old men and women. I enjoyed it so much because it's rarer to see Roman art pieces of persons in a natural, vulnerable state. It was interesting to see the remarkably accurate depictions of an old woman walking to the Festival of Dionysis with basket of grapes in hand, and drooping facial features, or of an old fisherman with sagging skin, and weak muscles. I also enjoyed the several types of sarcophagi which depicted various representations mythological gods, and goddesses. I wish I could show pictures. However, photography is forbidden at the MET.

Once our legs grew tired we took the subway home and grabbed a bite of Donner kebabs. They basically consist of thin slices of lamb mixed with a type of slaw, tomatoes, onions, and Greek yogurt all stuffed in a pita. Delicious!

Afterward, we headed to a comedy club where we were to view a show very similar to the television show Who's Line is it Anyway? Unfortunately, once were got there, we learned that the show had been canceled so we went to Rocco's Pastry Shop and purchased a cheesecake identical to the one we had for my birthday. It's so good that it's worth a repeat two weeks later! This time we shared our cake with Jesse, and our friends Jason, and Sheena Larkin.

Brent was ecstatic about his birthday gift from my parents and me. We gave him a pair of Frye boots that he has been eyeing for the past two years.
Thanks mom and dad!
The rest of the night we hung out, ate popcorn, and played card games until 2 AM. It was so much fun having Jesse around.
Saturday, we slept in. It was glorious! We were up, and dressed just in time to go grab some lunch at our favorite Thai restaurant, Montien. Jesse ate spicy, Thai fried rice. I had Pad Thai, a traditional noodle dish, and Brent had Pineapple fried rice, which was served to him him in half a pineapple. It was all so good. I LOVE THAI FOOD! After we stuffed our bellies, we headed to the Museum of Natural History. We exited the subway station that stopped on the east entrance of Central Park so we could see the various autumn colored trees. It's so beautiful this time of year. When I am walking in Central Park, I have small moments where I forget I am in the middle of "the capital of the world." Whoever thought to put a park in the middle of Manhattan was a genius. I, for one, am glad to benefit from the genius of another.

The Museum of Natural History was full of interesting things to learn, and see. Here are some of the things we saw there:

A close relative of the Mammoth

A relative of the modern day Elk. This thing was huge!
A Glyptodonts: traveling tanks found in South America. Some grew to be over 10 feet tall, and may have weighed as much as a ton.

A TriceratopsHappy Birthday Brent!
I love you!