Eleri’s birthday was on a Monday this year…in the midst of packing up the house. In the past, we have had the family down for family dinner and cake, but that was not a possibility this year. The family was coming for cake and drinks at 8pm. We gave Eleri a choice for her birthday dinner and she wanted The Cheesecake Factory – a good one! However, life is a bit crazy and time was getting away from us. We had a cake disaster to do a restart. In my packing up the kitchen, I had found these disposable pans to make the cakes – this was a good time to use them since all the baking pans are packed. I was thinking I have been gone from America too long as these pans were more plastic than tin – plastic has sure improved. Well, not that much as the pans I found happen to be the LIDS for tins, no tins. A run to the store for new TINS and more cake mix!
Now, we had time for Happy Hound for a birthday dinner with a promise we would take Eleri to The Cheesecake Factory the next night. Happy Hound is a burger join in town that has always been there…even when Jim was growing up. The Hound had a fire about 6 months ago, they rebuilt it exactly the same. The place is small and ALWAYS crowded. We had a miscommunication with Andy as he drove to The Cheesecake Factory as we didn’t give him enough notice on the change of plans.
After enjoying our burgers and fries, it was time to go home for cake and ice cream. The kitchen was ready for a family party.
Since this is a family celebration, we always celebrate Emersyn’s birthday with the family, also. The girls each decorated their own cakes. One had a white cake and one had a chocolate cake. I had to use a box cake mix for the fist time, but the girls understood the packing messing!
Each girl blew out her 8 or 13 candles! Time for cake and ice cream!
Then, it was time for presents!
Mimi gave the girls Emerysn’s favorite gift – money. She is at the age that she like to buy what she wants so she had a big smile with her roll of cash – $50!
Aunt Terri gave Eleri the big present. She had already given her a necklace, but the girls do get spoiled by their Aunts when we are home. Aunt Nancy takes them to Hickelbee’s book store for their birthday gift. Emersyn always has a list of books she wants and Nancy always buys her three books. Aunt Kathy took the girls to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk for a special day of fun. The girls picked out sweatshirts from the Boardwalk. The sweatshirts will get plenty of wear with the Shanghai winter!
The girls with Mimi and Papa.
The next night, we did a girls night out at The Cheesecake Factory. It was nice as we didn’t have to rush our dinner and Eleri was able to enjoy her cheesecake birthday dessert.
