SURPRISE! Happy 40th Brian!!!

So...many of you know that Peter and I are both close with our siblings.  In fact, our brothers are some of my most favorite people.  My oldest brother, Brian, had a milestone birthday on January 31st...his 40th.  So, in order to help him properly celebrate, my younger brother and I both flew to California to surprise him.  And, I think he really got the surprise of his life!!!  His three closest friends, Alex, Brian, and Raph, were all in on it, and helped us plan our various evenings of surprises.  Alex was sick, so his beautiful wife stepped in and picked me up from the airport and drove me to his store to surprise him before he left.  Oh, I wore a red wig too, to hold him off from recognizing me.

Then, Brian, Brian and I went to downtown San Jose for some food and drinks

Then we headed to Brian (and Alex's) regular watering hole, 300, where his managment crew met us for celebratory beverages

On Friday, Brian and I slept in, then walked to the local train station to get a ride to a rental car place.  San Jose is huge.  And pretty. 

Then we went for lunch.

Friday night was another night of surprises...I drove Brian to San Francisco for dinner. 

 (San Fran, just like most tourist-filled cities, has lots of novelity items.  I *had* to get a picture of this for Rowena...as her favorite thing to drink is Strawberry-Chocolate Milk)

(I LOVED all of the little fishing boats!!!)

And Wesley just happened to be at the restaurant.

Brian got nervous when some tall guy in a suit came up to our table and said, "Is this the Kridner party?  Good. I'm so glad I finally found you."  Of course he totally misprounced the last name, and then he disappeared for a while.  Brian wondered what was in store (I think scared mom and dad were going to walk through the door).  However, it was a bottle of wine from Alex...Very classy! 

Saturday was spent getting Wesley's name on the car rental, going to a local famous joint (Bill's) for breakfast, took Josie to the dog park (which was infested with pugs) relaxing, then having sushi, then going out with the gang for one last hurrah dinner. 

Our first choice, Henry's Hi Life, was PACKED due to the San Jose Sharks playing just a few blocks away.  Our second choice, Steamers, wouldn't be able to seat us until 9.  So we went to Palacio in Los Gatos.  It was a great restaurant, and I'm sad I didn't take a picture of it! I'm also disappointed I didn't a picture of the crew at dinner.  AWESOME group of people!

After that, it was back to 300 to close out the night with more friends of Brian's wanting to help him celebrate his 40th.

 Wesley...always has to have it be a two-picture kind of moment

 Brian^ and I with the Cali guys who helped orchestrate the surprises...Raph, Alex, and Brian

Brian...You are amazing and I love you.  Thanks for being such a great sport through all the surprises!  I hope you had a GREAT 40th!!!