Gabe's birthday celebration*

Part one was going to the restaurant of his choice for his birthday supper on his birthday, Thursday. He chose to no one's surprise, Chinese buffet. We had to give all the kids' ages when we sat down, so we told them he was 12 TODAY and that he chose their restaurant out of all his choices. They brought him a dessert plate with a candle and he was serenaded by three Chinese ladies, singing "Happy Birsday". They also presented him with a package of Chinese wafer cookies (come to think of it I haven't seen those lately...) It was so sweet but I couldn't get my camera out quick enough to capture them on the record, but was just in time for the candle blowing out.
He followed this up with his REAL dessert. They have hard ice cream here! It was a really great dinner. Harvey Johnson (www.johnsonflightcrew.blogspot.com), one of the airplane mechanics, joined us (you can see him next to Gabe above) and we had a great time. He ended up treating us to dinner, much to our dismay. We are plotting our revenge...be warned plane whisperer!!! We had to be rolled out because the food was so good. Paul and I even had a few crab legs before running out of patience.
Part two of the birthday celebration had to wait for the weekend. We went bowling as a family, made birthday cake, ate pizza, and had a GREAT time! The bowling ally was fairly deserted, so we practically had a private party. We had 2 hours of unlimited bowling, and were only on the third frame (of our third game) as the end of our 2nd hour neared. We started trying to hurry and all of us started getting strikes and spares! We decided we would speed bowl from now on! Happy Birthday Gabriel and thanks for letting the whole family enjoy your fun!I always make the kids' birthday cakes because I get to make what I like (don't tell them that is the real reason!), and I can decorate it how they want. Gabriel has really been missing snowboarding this year, so he thought it would be funny to have a green hill and a guy trying to snowboard. This is how we made that happen:
The sign fell out of his hand as I was trying to get a close up of the words...of course. So its messy...you get the picture...literally!He blew out the candles again. ALL 12 of them in one breath! Then, we demolished the cake. The boys fought over who got the mound of frosting that made the hill! It really is the best part! We wish we could have had lots of friends and family celebrating with us, but we will wait patiently. We do appreciate this time to draw closer together as a family. I know we will look back on this year with great fondness!

*This birthday celebration/family fun night was sponsored by the Rotzoll family! Thanks for making Gabe's day special!