Happy Birthday Tika!!!

Today is Tika's Birthday .... ok I will not do the ... hooray, hooray, hooray ... ok I did


Seriously Tika, I am so proud of you. You have grown up to be an amazing person ... full of life ... facing challenges ... and being your own person while doing all of it. I know some of the challenges are tough and that require you to step outside your comfort zone but I know you can do that as well and you showed us all that this weekend taking on your first road running race.

For those that did not know, Tika and I did a race to support the National Capital Lyme Disease network. It was a 5K around the beautiful National Conference Center in Leesburg. The course was very much an undulating one with one really good long hill. We saw a few people we knew there including Hollis and Ben who we may have gotten a little competitive with. Tika did great for her first race ... finishing in under 29 minutes (we do not have an official time but it was something like a 28:40). She was very excited when she registered and got her bib with number 487 - which we interpreted to mean she was running "for #87" (and she was wearing her Zigs which Crosby is a spokesman for).

After the race we headed out for a coffee and then with her two sisters we headed to DC to try a vegan restaurant that she had wanted to try. Cafe Green is fantastic. They had a brunch style menu and we tried a few dishes and all were good but the blueberry pancakes and the tex-mex hash were great.

Afterwards we headed down to the American Art Museum. Sam is not a big gallery or museum person but I think everyone like the video gaming exhibit at AA. I also love this museum, especially the link to the Portrait Gallery and the 3rd floor hall pictured that used to be used for storing patent models.

For her birthday treat Tika wanted to head to Sticky Fingers. She loves the place and her argument for going there is if I bake her cupcakes or a cake she will eat it all but this way she will only have one. I was ok with the argument since it is her birthday. SF holds up to its winning of Cupcake Wars every time we are there. It is fantastic - we just love the place. One can see why people do not believe that these are vegan treats.

Overall we had a great day and a good one to end her teen years. We even saw some surprising things ....

This is as unique as Tika

Happy Birthday Tika! We love you!