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Nanifest XL was Friday, July 21 to Sunday, August 6, 2006. It was a fun and emotional couple of weeks, especially the huge surprises at the end! Leading up to the Festival, NO ONE would tell me what was planned or who was doing the actual planning. I was totally in the dark and teased mercilessly. I have to be honest, as the end of the whole few months worth of joke leading up to it, I loved it! On July 29, my actual 40th birthday, there was a nice dinner out and a wonderful party. My Dad and Aunt were there and almost all of my friends made it. One friend that I was really thinking might make it and surprise me was Kelly, in Missouri. I would have loved a picture with both of my big brothers and BOTH of my sisters! It didn't happen that way, but I did get my picture with John, Scott and Nancy and talked to Kel on the phone. My big gift from everyone was 2 tickets to see the Atlanta Braves, my number 2 NL team, at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati to face the Reds, my number one NL team the very next week! It was a GREAT finale....
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 And even stopped for a picture! |
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 (my Baby SO gets me!) |
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when he takes you for ice cream!
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We met for, you guessed it, ice cream, and she presented me with a mix she did of "forty" songs called, "Oh Lordy, I'm 40!" The gift wrap was done at work. It's a paper bag base and she passed it around to all of her coworkers to write "Happy Birthday" on it, so it had all different handwriting and colors. It was so cool, I saved gift wrap too! |
.......... July 28, Just David and Me
David took me for a very nice dinner at Mancy's Steak House in Toledo on my last night of my 30s! My favorite sweets!
July 29 - I AM 40! ..........
With love, from Arizona!
My "Megamom" in AZ, sent me fresh fruit
and candies with party favors!David took me for my birthday Cinnabon (it's my birthday, I GOTTA have my Cinnabon!) and to wait for a call. While we were there, I talked to Kelly on the phone. I didn't know where David
was taking me until John
called and told him to bring me!We went to Macaroni Grill, the restaurant
where we celebrated John's 40th!Also a place where you get to write on the tables! We had three tables in our group.
I went to each on to talk to everyone
and wrote this on each table.
Sharing a laugh with my Dad Scotty and I have adopted Roger
as "our way cool swinging bachelor uncle"
He stopped by at dinner even though he couldn't stay for the festivities. Have I got the greatest friends, or what? Waiting for the car to go to the rest of the party... 
Nani, David, Tracy, Heather M
My party balloons!
(It's the one thing I said I really wanted!)
The cake - which was, of course, served with more ice cream! Sheri ordered the frosting in blue, green and purple, my favorite colors, and one of those candles is a baseball! Waiting to see the video I did a musical Photobook that included my very early years and lots of pics of all of us throughout the years with a big Thank You at the end to everyone for making my world the great one it is!
Me and my adopted sibs - 
Nancy, Scotty, Me, John All that was missing was Kelly :(
The Grand Finale
Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati, Ohio
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The grand finale and greatest surprise of all! I had gotten 2 tickets for the Reds-Braves game in Cincinnati on August 5. After we'd sat down, Rich and Jackie came into our section! THEN a couple minutes later Sheri and HeatherH, came in to the row below us. When I looked to the steps I saw Scotty, Nancy and HeatherM coming down. The biggest surprise was when I looked to the stairs one more time when I saw John descending the stairs with the Missouri contingency! There was Brooke, Dustin and Kelly!!!
What an AWESOME birthday surprise! I thought I had 2 tickets to the game, but John bought enough that everyone had a ticket and could car pool to surprise me! Bonus - I had ALL FOUR of my chosen sibs with me! In case I didn't cry enough happy tears the week before, I cried even more of them in Cincy! |
----> David and I arrived a little early so I could see the ballpark before the game. I was at the last game at Riverfront, but hadn't been to Great American yet! |
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<--- Sheri, Jackie and Rich one row below (the knees next to me are Brooke's and Dustin's!)
---> I'm told I almost ran people over in the row to get to Kelly when I saw her. An awesome surprise to get her there!
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<--- That smile was pretty much fixed on my face all day! ---> The Nanifest XL announcement on the scoreboard. |
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<--- The Reds Won! (And Adam Dunn went yard just for ME!)
---> We gathered at Cracker Barrel in Florence, KY after the game. Candi and her family joined us at the other table where I was sitting. |
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<---- The one thing I really, really, wanted to commemorate turning 40 - a picture with all four of my chosen siblings! John, Nancy, Nani, Kelly, Scott
---> Group photo at Cracker Barrel |
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7/29 Party Guests - Aunt Judy, David, Eddie, Georgia, Gerald, HeatherH, HeatherM, Jackie, Joey, John, Nancy, Pop, Rich, Roger, Scotty, Sheri, Tracy, Val Cincinnati Party Guests - Brooke, Candi and her family, David, Dustin, HeatherH, HeatherM, Jackie, John, Kelly, Nancy, Rich, Scotty, Sheri Congratulation to Rich for wining the 2006 "Bardless Barbecue" golf tournament on 7/30 Special Thanks Photoshop for the Lugnuts Nanifest XL billboard
