Justin's BBQ-d Birthday

Justin turned the big 2-8 on Friday!

Just like everything else in our house, I decided it was only appropriate to make him a "supersized" cupcake for his birthday.

And he was barely in the door from work when I gave it to him!

Friday afternoon, we headed to Kansas City for some BBQ...first stop was at the Gate's in Leawood.

The food was good, but the company was even better!  I forgot to take a picture but Justin's two old roommates and one of their girlfriends joined us for supper.  Justin had a great time catching up and laughing about old times together in the dorms and at their house on 17th Street.

After Gates, we went to a local bar for a few drinks but called it a night around 11pm.  Ya know you're getting old (or had a long work week!) when you're heading home as everyone else is heading out to the watering holes...

I had made reservations at the Hyatt in Leawood for Friday night.  I'll be honest--the hotel was not anything like the Hyatts I've stayed at but hey, it kept us dry from the storm that rolled through town later that night.

On the upside, Justin slept in Saturday morning (something he never does) and laid in bed watching TV until the very last minute we had before checking out.

The room had a sectional which was kinda cool...

It also had a wet bar area...it actually made the perfect drying spot for all my cosmetics.  My facial toner spilled ALL over my overnight bag, soaking my clothes and everything else in it.  Nothing like drying your clothes with a hair dryer!

We've heard from several people that they like Oklahoma Joe's bbq better than Gate's...and since we were in town, Justin just HAD to try Oklahoma Joe's for lunch on Saturday!

After eating an entire Hog-a-Mania platter and an order of fries, Justin declared that Oklahoma Joe's was 10x better than Gate's!



Granted, we did not drive downtown to the "original" location but the food WAS good.  However, I like the Gate's atmosphere better.  There's something about incredibly rude people yelling at you that just can't be replaced ;-)

I never thought we could eat so much bbq in just 15 hours, but we did and Justin loved every bite of it!

But the fun didn't stop there...today we went to Mom and Dad's to celebrate Father's Day.  Mom had made Justin's favorite--a caramel cake--for his birthday!  I didn't get a picture of that either, but she found candles that spelled out 'Happy Birthday.'  The cake was delicious and she tried a new marshmallow frosting on it--super yummy as well!

All in all, it was a good weekend and Justin had a great time turning 28 :-)