I can hardly believe how fast she is growing up. She had a great time at Great Wolf Lodge and even managed to feign interest when we detoured to the geek-tacular Science Fiction Museum in Seattle; she preferred the Experience Music Project upstairs in the same building.
We went out for dim sum for her birthday treat (and later we will be making nachos for dinner) and she was showered with gifts -- LEGO, a Build-a-Bear, an iPod Nano and Skullcandy headphones plus a half dozen volumes of Yotsuba and a giant bubble wand. She'll get more on Sunday from other relatives and friends at her birthday party.
Regular readers will know I am a fan of Cakewrecks and also of destruction so it shouldn't be a surprise that for my birthday, I asked for and got this:
But it still surprised most of the guests -- aside from my unbridled laughter and Hubby's crazy-guy noises, there was a moment of stunned silence. I think a few people thought Hubby had finally lost it. Instead, it was carefully planned right down to where we bought the cake (Costco -- we HATE their cakes. Eww icky, eww) but Hubby didn't tell me exactly what he would do. Unfortunately, it did scare one of our youngest guests (my sincere apologies to her and her parents -- we really didn't expect her to have a front row seat to the craziness). In the end, we enjoyed a very yummy Ben & Jerry's ice cream cake, some cheesecake, and other yummy treats.
But I think it will be a while before I get the last of the marischino cherries out of the lawn...
Part of the goal for today's party was to re-create the Volcano dessert from the Rainforest Cafe on a smaller scale. To start, I made brownies last night. It's been a while since I had made brownies so I chose to use the "Best Brownie" recipe from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook (13th revised ed., paperback):
6 oz unsweetened chocolate (I actually used semisweet) 3/4 cup butter (my bad, I used margarine) 4 eggs 2 tbsp. vanilla 1/2 tsp. salt 2 3/4 cups sugar 1 1/2 cups flour 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (I skipped the nuts)
(Notice that there is more sugar than flour. Not for the calorie counters out there!) Mix the eggs, vanilla, salt and sugar for 8-10 minutes until well blended. Meanwhile, melt butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring frequently. Add chocolate mixture to egg mixture then gradually add flour. When combined, add walnuts. Pour batter into greased and floured 9x13 pan. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes. Do not overbake! Let sit for at least 2 hours before cutting.
The result was a brownie with a firm crust at the edges and a very chewy centre -- perfect for the Volcanoes:
The desserts were a hit -- as were the build-your-own pizzas, tunnel and tent play structures, and (surprisingly) the punching bags. Fun was had by all but we were pretty happy when 5:00 rolled around and parents arrived to collect their kids.
While my actual birthday isn't until tomorrow, we went out for brunch today (which was lovely) and I was spoiled with many gifts. Among them, two new books -- Roger Ebert's Your Movie Sucks and Craft, Inc -- a polarizing filter and a flash attachment for my camera, the first three American Pie movies, some makeup, some specialty foods, a new MEC shoulder bag, and gift certificates for Value Village.
This afternoon, we went to see WALL-E, which I very much recommend.
I'm very thankful to everyone for a lovely day and the thoughtful gifts.
As the title implies, yesterday was Hubby's 40th. The morning started with gift-giving -- he finally got something he'd wanted for a long time:
Yep, robotic LEGO -- the foundation for his robot army.
For lunch, with family, we went to Don Mee's for dim sum (mmMMMmmm).
The big deal for the evening, though, was the pub-crawl and related merry-making. It was a challenge to figure out how it was going to play out -- apparently aging gen-xers don't really have anywhere to party in Victoria...
Just before we went out, Hubby received a birthday wish by video which has now, happily, been posted on YouTube for the world to see:
That put us in a pretty good mood as we walked to the first stop -- The Tudor House in Esquimalt. From there, the party moved to Bartholomew's where we were actually the youngest crowd in the house. After that, we wanted to see what had become of Hubby's beloved former hangout, the Old Bailey, which had been re-modeled into Smiths. It was kind of eurotrashy, but it served its purpose.
After that, we had some great debate about where to go. Several people headed for home but Hubby and I wanted to find somewhere with a dance floor. After a few attempts, we ended up at Hush (formerly Rumors) on Government street. It was a $9 cover and featured some of the lamest DJs I've ever suffered through. Honestly, the music was fine, but they had no control over the floor -- the music kept crashing into itself or slowing to a beat that ended up clearing the floor. Really, really lame. Sigh. We stayed about an hour, and just after midnight called it a night... but a good night.
It seems in our family, late June- late August is Birthday Season. We just spent Saturday inVancouver for my nephew's 5th birthday (thus missing a milestone birthday of a Victoria friend -- doh!); my own annual rollover is fast approaching and that is followed by my brother's a week later.
Through the summer there are celebrations for my mother-in-law, hubby's nephew, my mother, my aunt, and a whole lot of other friends. And don't get me started trying to list anniversaries.
(13th revised ed., paperback):
