Frankie and Slim

Frankie and Slim
Happy New Year

Saturday, June 05, 2010

FOUR STATES IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

We traveled from our Oklahoma home to the Downstream Casino. Exiting Oklahoma via the Will Rogers Turnpike, we entered Missouri and made a quick left turn into Kansas, turning left again into the casino land which put us back in Oklahoma. (It is fun to try and hold your breath through all four states.)

Looking out the windows of this beautiful casino reveals our Green Country lush trees as the view from every angle. You can occasionally catch a glimpse of traffic moving on the turnpike but it is very well hidden by landscape.


My brother and sil were already there, arriving the day before the rest of us. This was a special outing for them with my sil after a long illness, finally celebrating good diagnosis and alive with her normal gracious and loving spirit. This was so much more than my birthday celebration.

My sister and bil arrived next, and as always, my sister was the leader of the pack. She had baked specialty brownies for my birthday cake and only dropped them twice getting into the hotel. The small stack that was left still served as delicious celebration food with a happy birthday candle and small clowns.

My sister was the big champion. The rest of us lost our small pittance of gambling allowance while she spun hers into enough to feed us a feast at the casino's most expensive steak restaurant that evening. Plus, she still had money left over. I attribute her winning style to 1.) enthusiasm that 2) invites good wishes from all around her (kind of like intercessory prayer) and 3) she watches the spinners and never the money.

Leaving the casino for the evening my brother stopped to snap a photo of me, my sis, and my sil. He was suddenly accosted by security and advised to let them see the picture and others on his camera. Who knew we could not take pictures in a casino?? You can take them in the hotel and gift shop and restaurants but NOT on the floor of the casino.

We always have such a great time when we gather and certainly want to do this again and more often. I was pleased with my brother and sister's kind toasts to me, the birthday girl, and the wonderful gifts they presented. Only they will know what this means, but I believe I will finally forgive them for the Brownie Parade!

I turned to Ron and said, "What about your toast?" and he said "No toast but there is bread at the end of the table." Oh such romance:)

16 comments:

  1. Ron's got my kinda humor.
    Happy Birthday to you. Ain't family great??

    ReplyDelete
  2. How wonderful! I'm glad your birthday was filled with your family!

    How sweet of your sister to share her winnings with you all!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like your B-day was a hit:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glad you had a good time, and congrats to the winner. Wish it had been you!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cliff -- Family is the bomb! Yes, I am aware that you share Ron's delightful (?) wit.

    OGO -- We tried to get my sis to let us split the ticket but she wouldn't have an part of that, insisting her winnings were meant to benefit all of us. She has always been quite generous.

    Changes -- It was a fantastic "hit"!

    Kenju -- I WAS the big winner:)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love that you can visit four states in a single breath - lol!

    Sounds like you all shared a lovely celebration of life, Annie!

    ReplyDelete
  7. My hubby is not a romantic...but if I asked for a toast I am afraid it might go on well into the night because he does love to talk to groups of people!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Happy birthday and wow I didn't know you couldn't take pictures in a casino either...glad you had fun...

    Dorothy from grammology
    grammology.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Talon – I think it was probably a bit too much celebration of life for me this year and I feel a bit guilty. It was sure fun though.

    Tabor – My husband loves an audience but only when he can tell sea stories.

    Riot Kitty – I’ll bet you’re getting tired of telling me happy b-day. LOL

    Dorothy – Yes that photo business was a complete surprise. I need to research what its all about. It was a happy birthday, thank you:)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous6:06 PM

    Happy belated Birthday!! It sounds like you had such a wonderful time. It's so good to hear that your sil is well now. I love to hear about people getting well and recovering! How funny that your sister's good luck didn't help her with bringing her brownies to you intact! Hahaha! But I do like what you're saying about the contributing factors behind her luck... so very true!

    Well, thank you so much for coming by my blog and for your lovely comments and compliments!!

    xo
    Serena

    ReplyDelete
  11. Gotta love that man. :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sorry I missed your birthday, sounds and looks like you had a wonderful time!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sounds like everyone had a fantastic time celebrating with you..even with the security photo incident. Who knew? It's always fun times when family gets together.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous8:51 AM

    I felt good enough (RE: not fully dead) to get here today and I'm glad I did. psssst: Joe and I live exactly seven miles from Cesars boat. (now known as Horseshoe) hint hint hint

    ReplyDelete
  15. Happy belated birthday, GA. It sounds like you had a good one.

    ReplyDelete

lizziebethgeneral@gmail.com