July 13, 2015 – Dayspring Disciples

Eleven years old!
We woke her up with a birthday song.
Doesn’t she look, um, delighted?

It was the first day of VBS and she spent her morning there.
After lunch, her friend Kole came over for the afternoon and evening.

Nan and Nene also joined us for dinner. Hawaiian pizza was the main dish, with watermelon and pasta salad accompaniment. Summer-yum food!
Such sweet beauties.

We had a few gifts, including the song Tabitha played for her.

Lots of silly cards from siblings.

And a heart-made gift from Kole.

Jammies.

And cake. After we all enjoyed Nigel’s cake 11 days earlier, she put in an order for the same chocolate masterpiece.

She’s so beautiful. I love her smile. I love her heart. I love her.

For the last four years, Nigel has asked for a mystery date with Daddy. Marie asked for a mystery date with Mommy this year.
So. Much. Fun.

I went back and forth trying to decide where to eat. Even prayed about it. The night before the date my friend at work suggested Joe’s Crab Shack for my shrimp loving girl. It was a fantastic choice.

Marie selected, “Just Shrimpin’” as her meal. Three kinds of shrimp, with different dipping sauces, and fries.
I selected, “Crispy Catch,” which was to include deep friend shrimp with cream cheese and jalapenos, calamari, and fish. Okay. I’m not a big fan of calamari. I think I’ve only had it once or twice. But I love the others and reasoned I could eat it deep fried.

Our food came. I popped some of the O shaped calamari rings in my mouth. They were, um, chewy. Really chewy. But the spicy sauce that came with them made them — just as chewy. But I was thinking if I ate them first, they’d be out of the way. There were a lot. BUT – I was doing ok. Until I saw the itty-bitty-deep-fried WHOLE squid. Heaven, help me. I put them (yes – there were multiple ones) into the disposal bucket and just ate the fish and shrimp. And tried not to think about it. I did bring one home (buried in the left over calamari rings and fries) so my family could see it.

They sang to her.

We went to Adventure Landing. We did mini-golf.

And the AWESOME fun ropes course. (As an aside… as the kid is gearing us up for the course I mention we are going on a cruise next spring on a ship with a ropes course. He says HE went on a cruise on a ship with a ropes course… “Norwegian Getaway.” THE SAME SHIP. I’ve met precious few teens who’ve been on cruises. I’ve never met anyone who has been on our ship. And BaBoom – here was kid who’d been on it. He shared lots of info and answered lots of questions. I’m so PSYCHED.)

After the ropes course we did their WOW factory, then drove to do Go-Karts. It was my first time. I was the slowest on the track, and I still was crazy sick when I got off. Too much zoom zoom?

Finally – it was Log Cabin for desserts.