Birthdays

Since nearly all the Smith children have spring birthdays, this is a busy time of year for us.  I wanted to record what we did for their birthdays in Guam.  Addie's baptism in the ocean on her birthday is a hard act to follow, but we did our best.  First comes Sierra.  For her 11th, we went bowling and out for ice-cream with Annie and Claire Cook, their best buds on the island. None of us came close to Annie's score, she was on a roll. 

Good times!

Good Treats!

Next comes Suzy.  Yay- 14!  To start the day we had our friends over to introduce them to our love of mango milkshakes.  Then, since we are definitely at the stage where Mom is no longer allowed to pick out clothes for Suz, for her birthday it was a shopping spree and lunch at what is now our favorite Mexican restaurant on island.

Anyone living on Guam definitely needs to experience fresh mango milkshakes.

Shopping in Tumon!

Celebrating with a surfboard (?) cake

Last of the spring birthdays -Bugs.  I still can't believe he is five, my baby five?  Really?  I am not ready for this boy to grow up.  When I asked him how he wanted to celebrate his big day he said, "Ride a train and eat cheetos."  I guess that is what I get for asking a five-year-old.  I have not seen any trains on Guam yet, so we had to go with plan B - a party in the park.

I swear I am disaster- prone when it comes to birthday parties, I have quite a rap sheet.  I get a little anxiety even writing about it.  Abe assured me I could pull this off.  Just a few families for dinner, games, cake and ice-cream.  Wanting to get an early start, I made the cakes the night before the party.  While making them, I ran out of ingredients and then had to borrow pans from a friend which necessitated a late-night dash for Abe.  I finally got the cakes in the oven at 11:30 pm and fifteen minutes later the power went out!  Island wide!  We haven't lost power for more than a half hour since we got here.  Why now?  It was out for four and a half hours!  I flipped on our bedroom light so I would know when the power came back on.  Finally, at 4:00am, we had power again.  I turned the oven back on, hoping to salvage the half-baked cakes.  At that point, I wasn't about to make them all over again.  I was out of ingredients anyway.  Needless to say, the finished project looked good, (when the judge is five-years old) but left something to be desired in the taste and texture department.  The next morning, I quickly made a batch of cupcakes and we were all happy.

Bugs and a few friends enjoying dinner.

FIVE candles!

Third time for a surfboard cake, best looking one yet.  Thank you Pintrest.

 Now I get to celebrate- no more birthdays for six months!