I Partied Like It Was My Birthday. Because It Was.

So now that I'm 24, I'm officially older, wiser, and know everything.

Just kidding.


But do not expect this post to be about how turning 24 changes my life perspective and how I see the world through different eyes. Get ready for a recap of my birthday and how I had a fabulous time.

On Thursday we headed down to my parents to pick up my youngest sister. On the way to their house I got a phone call from my older sister with some great news:

SHE'S ENGAGED!

This is some pretty exciting stuff. She's been dating a fantastic guy for about 6 years now and I'm so happy for the both of them. 

And I may or may not be SUPERDUPERPUMPED that someone close to me is getting married and I can look at wedding things and talk about it, BUT DON'T HAVE TO MAKE ANY DECISIONS! The best.

Okay, back to my birthday.

So we get to my parents, get excited about the wedding that will be occurring next summer, grab my little sister, and head down to his parent's. The babies were tired.

We spent some time with his family, and went to bed.

We woke up bright and early, said goodbye to Bruin, and were off?

To where you may ask?

I decided I wanted to spend my birthday at SIX FLAGS!

This may not sound all that exciting to some of you, but I had never been to a Six Flags and had a coupon that gave me a wicked deal for admission. 

I MEAN WICKED.

On our way there we realized we had forgotten sunglasses. So as fashion divas we clearly stopped at the nearest gas station to pick up a two-for deal.

 

Six Flags New England is approximately 3 hours away from our starting point, so we settled in for the drive. Unfortunately the weather did not want to cooperate. My fancy phone, which took most of the photos in this post, told me thunderstorms would be looming over the roller coasters that we were planning on bossing. So we stopped at a rest stop an hour away, ate, and tried to make a call.

Weather at the rest stop after some rain. Debbie downer trumpet WAH-WAAAAAH.

After much deliberation and some delicious sandwiches, we decided that anywhere else we might choose might be a let down, and there were plenty of spots to hang out if it did rain. We made the uncertain decision to head to the park.

And guess what, everything worked out perfectly!

Because of the nasty weather, there were barely any lines.

 We wanted to get back to my parent's at a decent time to eat dinner, so we knew we had to make the most of the time. You need a whole day to get on every single ride there. We had three hours, so with the exception of a few water rides we had to really zone in on what we wanted to do.

What rides did we decide to do in our limited time? All of the hardcore rollercoasters of course!

We did not want to get our cellphones wet, so we don't have any pictures. 

Well, except for this one.

I cropped out the other people in our cart, but six flags cropped out my little sister. Well, you can see her legs.

We had to wait 45 minutes for this ride, not because of crowds, but because at one point many of the roller coasters were having maintenance due to rain. This roller coaster does not go upside down, but it had the biggest drop I have every seen. It was awesome.

The last roller coaster we went on the person running it asked if it was okay if the three of us sit up front. I was more than okay with that. We all got to sit together. Here is how we felt about this one, which did go upside down.

It's blurry, but as you can see, we're all screaming. And apparently we color coordinated as well.

Needless to say, it was a blast. 

We settled in for the long drive, and Erin and I took a picture to show how exhausted yet happy we were. This is what I captured.

Unfortunately a tractor trailer truck thought it would be funny to kick up a rock and crack my windsheild.

While that was bummerific, we're getting it fixed  tomorrow, and despite what people may think, it's not as horribly expensive to fix as you might think. (Around 200ish).

We made it back to my house safely, and I decided I wanted to keep it low key after traveling, so after we picked up the little mad at my in-law's so we headed to my parents' house and ate food they had love-ingly grilled. 

After cake and some laughs, it was time for presents. My parents gave me a Mt. Washington t-shirt as I totally bossed that mountain last year, and a giftcard. (I'd already gotten to some other gifts in the mail. Thanks Gram and Judy! I'll be sending out those thank you cards soon, promise!)

Dave then looked at me with a silly grin and had me open the card, it was no surprise that it had dogs on it. He eagerly handed me my gift, that was apparently from my parents, all of my sisters, and Dave. 

This is the part where I start to get excited. 

What did I find?????

Please enjoy my headband and pajamas. Oh, and chipping green polish.

For those of you who are familiar with my plight of having a Canon Rebel that is film only, you may know that I've been yearning for a digital DSLR. I had mentioned it in a few posts but in no way expected to get one so soon!!!!

It is a Nikon D5000. It has tons of features including video capabilities, live view while shooting on the screen, a screen that flips around so I can shoot in crowds and take self portraits, and sooooo many other features. The extent of my photography knowledge is from the one class I took in high school and the photography blogs that I follow. I'm just super excited that I have a camera that will have what I need as I *hopefully* expand my knowledge and skills.

Dave didn't get me a bag, not because he forgot, but because he is an angel from heaven and wanted me to pick one out on my own that I loved. So I shall be doing a post on all of that later.

So that was my birthday friends. I hope to be going out with some friends next weekend to continue the party. So just in case you were worrying, the celebrations are not done.

Have a fantastic Sunday!