The One With Aimee's Surprise 30th Birthday Party

For about two months now, I have been planning a surprise weekend for Aimee's 30th birthday; and this past weekend was the weekend it all went down (Aimee's birthday was yesterday, January 13). On Friday night before we went to bed, I told Aimee that we would need to be up and ready to leave the house by 9:30 a.m. I had her drive since I had mapped everything out and would need to be the one giving directions so that all events would remain a surprise. We first went to get her Aztec washed and then headed north on 52 before arriving at the Minnesota State Capitol Building. This is something we had been wanting to tour for quite some time; and over the weekend, we made it the 11th State Capitol Building we have visited. Below is a picture of what I thought was the Minnesota State Capitol Building while growing up in Iowa and learned that it is not...rather, it is the Cathedral of Saint Paul!

Below is the real Minnesota State Capitol Building! It was probably one of the nicer Capitol Buildings we have toured with Madison, Wisconsin, being the exception.

After touring the Capitol Building, I then had Aimee drive us from downtown St. Paul over to downtown Minneapolis. She was quite surprised when I asked her to pull over at the Hotel Ivy and use their valet parking (this was the first time either of us had used valet parking...I even looked up appropriate tipping on this). We then walked a couple of blocks to our next destination which was The Melting Pot. Neither of us had eaten there before, but I knew Aimee had been wanting to try it out for some time now. The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant and can be quite pricey, but it was well worth it. We ordered the four-course meal for two which started with a cheese fondue with bread, apples, and veggies; followed by our salads; followed by the main fondue with lobster tails, salmon, shrimp, chicken, steak, pork, and potatoes; followed by the chocolate and peanut butter fondue with cheesecake, pound cake, strawberries, bananas, pineapple, and oreo-covered marshmallows. It was all very delicious, and we were both very full by the end of the meal!

Aimee thanking her drink for coming to the meal! She ordered a Pomegranate Cosmo.

Me thanking my drink for coming to the meal! I ordered a Blueberry Bop that tasted nasty, and the waiter kindly offered to get me a different drink.

Our waiter was great and explained every part of the meal to us in great detail which was very helpful. He even offered to take a picture of us together as we enjoyed our chocolate and peanut butter fondue.

After the meal, I knew we would not want to be driving right away again, so I walked with Aimee back to the Hotel Ivy where I had made an appointment for her to have a one-hour signature facial at the Ivy Spa Club.

After Aimee's facial, I then had her drive us back to Rochester and over to Chateau Theaters in time to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We both enjoyed the movie and said we had never seen anything like it before. I thought it was slow moving in a few parts in the middle; but we both left the theater with a tear in our eyes.

After walking to the Aztec after the movie was over, I had Aimee get in the passenger seat and told her to tie a towel around her head like a blindfold for the next surprise. She asked if I was kidding, and I said no. I then drove around northeast Rochester for a few minutes before making my way to Kevin and Nicole Youel's house where 15 or so of our in-town friends were waiting to scream "SURPRISE!" when Aimee walked through their front door. In the picture below, Allison Vail is peaking out the front window as I lead Aimee up to the front door.

Aimee removing the towel from her head and discovering her final surprise.

After mingling for a little while and eating supper, I put the letter candles on the two ice cream cakes I had purchased from Cold Stone Creamery (although I broke one of the P's while trying to stick it in, so it ended up being "HAPY BIRTHDAY!"). Aimee then made her 30th birthday wish and blew them all out with one breath.

After that, it was time for Aimee to open up her presents from everyone. In the picture below, she is opening up her gift of strawberry champagne from Cassie Khotmanivong. She also got a couple of coloring books and crayons, some scrapbooking items, and an adult-sized pair of full-body pajamas like you used to wear when you were little.

Before some of us started in on a 500 tournament and before some people had to leave, we got a picture of everyone who helped celebrate Aimee's 30th birthday (from left to right): Korrie Johnson, Erin Jimenez, Cassie Khotmanivong (brought Penelope over to the Youel's house for us), Allison Vail, Chris Walston, Aimee, Chad Fisher, John White, Stephanie Fisher, Beth Bristol, me, Nick Johnson, Nicole Youel, Kevin Youel, John Jimenez (took many of the pictures at the party), and Karl Bristol.

The 500 tournament ended prematurely as Chad and Steph had to leave so that they could get up and sing in choir at church the next morning. Those of us who were spending the night at the Youels then went upstairs and shared bathroom stories and other assorted scary and humorous stories. At about 4 a.m., we all decided to call it a night. As Nick and Korrie had not planned on spending the night, we lent them some of our extra pajamas to sleep in and let them share our toothpaste, mouthwash, and a contact container and solution. The next morning, we got a picture of Aimee wearing her full-body pajamas from Allison Vail holding Allison's daughter Ashley in her full-body pajamas.

The whole weekend was awesome, and I couldn't have pulled it all off without the help of many who were invited and especially the Youels for working tirelessly on their newly remodeled home (with a few finishing touches yet to be completed)!