Let the birthday extravaganza begin…

Starting with Aaron’s birthday in July, we have 5 birthdays in very quick succession (and this does not include members in our extended family). Apparently we did not plan well when having our children, since Katie and Bridget have birthdays five days apart and Averi and Paul’s birthday’s are 9 days apart. It get’s pretty crazy around here in August and September. Now that we’ve finished the last birthday (until my big three-oh in February), I feel like I can finally sit down and catch up with our life. Aaron requested black forest cake for his 32nd birthday. Good choice, my love.     I’m quite impressed with what I gave him for his birthday. (Is it okay to say that?) This year, his gift was a “Passport to Love.” I planned dates for every month of the year, with a different country as each month’s theme. I made boarding passes for each country, detailing the date and time of our date, with information of what we’ll be doing on the back. I also purchased a few gifts to go along with the theme of some of the months. I packed everything in a suitcase and he got to unwrap his presents and his dates. We’ve had so much fun so far with our dates, and there are several that I’m really looking forward to. Here’s our itinerary (with some editing, so that I don’t embarrass anyone. **Wink, wink** And I embarrassed Aaron just by writing that.): July—United Kingdom Fish and chips at Two Fools Tavern “A Winter's Tale” at The Vortex Eat banoffe pie for dessert August—Central America Visit the Albuquerque Museum Of Art And History to view “Exploring Art Of The Ancient Americas” Dinner at Pasion Latin Fusion Watch Jurassic Park September—Mexico Salsa Festival in Old Town Dinner at El Norteño Watch Rango Make homemade fried ice cream October—Greece Greek Festival at St George Greek Orthodox Church Dine at the festival—gyros and baklava!! Watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding November—Morocco Serve kabobs, a tagine, couscous, dates, nuts, and oranges Watch Casablanca Learn to belly dance December—France Dinner at Chez Axel Go to the opening night of Les Miserables Learn phrases from the language of love January—China Eat Chinese food with chopsticks Paint the Chinese characters for “I love you” and frame them Play Chinese Checkers and mahjong Light a Chinese Flying Lantern February--Africa See if there are any events going on for Black History Month Dinner at Talking Drums restaurant Visit the Zenith African Caribbean Market Watch Out of Africa March—Italy Create food that would make an Italian mama proud Go to “Madama Butterfly” at the Journal Theater Enjoy some gelato April—India Give each other henna tattoos Make delicious Indian food Eat sitting on cushions while listening to Indian music May—Germany Make schnitzel, dumplings, and other hearty fare Game night! Play German board games Strudel (or another dessert!) from Dagmar's for dessert June—Caribbean Make delicious Caribbean-style food Watch The Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Piña coladas Spa night Here’s a sample boarding pass: This present was extremely well received. So much so that I’m worried I won’t be able to top this in the future. But I’ll give it the old college try.