the Best Birthday Bashes

We have the most incredible friends here in Chico, Cindy and Matt, who hosted not one, but two of our summer birthday bashes at their place. They were both the most amazing parties and we will be eternally grateful to them for making our big days so special. For Jack, they did a combined party with their birthday girl Jayden. There was much fun luau themed-food, combined with activities, crafts and a mini-pool with a slide. My mom, who was in town for the event, and I provided deviled-egg boats and apple frogs, bagels to decorate with animal faces and strawberry mice (to contaminate the boats and re-population themselves on the land of their final destination we decided... see, it fits the theme).

Jack loved the panda cake Cindy had made him. He continues to talk about it still calling it his "apple baby cake." ?? That's Jack and his creative language for you. The kid loves pandas and has an uncanny nack of finding one wherever we go. People are shocked to discover Jack finding pandas (toys, pics, etc) in their home that THEY didn't know about. 

The day I returned home from the Seattle Ragnar was my 30th birthday. Instead of resting after 3 nights of very little sleep, I decided to live it up. Rich picked me up at the airport, and we headed straight to Lake Oroville to go boating with friends. Naturally, I had to ignore my tired, aching muscles and wakeboard, then attempt to clear the wake by jumping over the it, which I failed of course .... leading to the worst face-plant wipe-out in possibly wake-boarding history. Then we sat in the sun for the remainder of the day watching the kids play on the beach.... still failing to re-hydrate myself after the Relay. Then having not exhausted my aging body enough, we dropped the kids off at the babysitters and hit the town, meeting up with Rick, Pam and friends Cindy and Andy for some appetizers at Crush, then out for karaoke and dancing. Yes, I'm a glutton for birthday fun.

Needless to say, I woke up the next morning feeling far older than 30. I limped to the mirror to discover a split lip, a swollen eye and a large bump on my forehead. Ouch! The next day I was diagnosed with a kidney and bladder infection because of all the running, sun and too little hydration. By the weekend, I was recouped and ready for Rich and Cindy's co-planned 50's beach birthday party. What a turnout! There were decorations, a BBQ, a cake and a dance floor with a smoke machine and strobe lights. DJ Matt had the guests groovin.' We danced (kids included) until 1 AM! 

The best part... a surprise visit from  my sis and bro-in-laws Kari and Nate from Denver and friends Shell and Mike from LA. I've never felt so loved! We had both parties for the weekend and had an incredible time.