New Year's Eve

Monday night

Tonight we attend a family party at the home of friends. Granddaughters wear sparkly outfits to welcome the new year. Daughters and I do our part. Guys wear jeans.

To support the theme of world celebrations, our family leader chooses Brazil to celebrate at nine o'clock MN time. We research traditions and download bossa nova samba music (the girl from Ipanema Beach will freeze her maracas if she passes by in this frigid weather). The kitchen smells of baking sweets and pork snacks. Our fruit tray resembles Carmen Miranda's headdress. We have flowers to cast into waves on the beach (snow? water?) A bowl of raisins ensures that each guest will have the opportunity to eat seven of them before midnight for good luck. The drink is caipirinha, but instead of Brazilian cachaca we use Tito's vodka for adults and ginger ale for children. We muddle the limes with sugar and realize we must add copious amounts of ice at serving time or risk muddling party brains (use shot glasses? tiny plastic cups?). None of us have white clothing to wear so we ignore that very important piece of tradition and hope for a great year/party anyhow.

Party revelers need little encouragement to participate in our Brazilian time zone. I manage to catch Pawpaw and our younger daughter dancing in the conga line, but speed works against me. That or my iPhone imbibed caipirinha when I wasn't looking.

Children have the basement to themselves and surface for drinks, food, and dancing (girls, not boys).

By evening's champagne end we look forward to a good rest and congratulate ourselves for bringing in the new year together. We are also grateful for the blessings of family and dear friends.

Happy New Year to all, and to all a good night!

Monday Breakfast & Movie

Pacing ourselves for this busy New Year's Eve, we begin with breakfast at our neighborhood coffee bar. The owner and his daughter cook breakfasts to order and have a display case full of scones, quiches, buns, etc. all made by them. Granddaughters are especially fond of the hot chocolate topped with a tower of whipped cream.

Granddaughters have play dates and daughters and I meet a friend at the movie theatre to see Les Miserables and lose ourselves in the experience. All four of us have seen stage productions (actually three times for me: San Antonio, Austin, Houston), but this close filming is quite different. How fun is it to be choked up with tears or on the verge for more than two hours? I soon gave up on tissues and just used the hood lining of my coat. The lumps in my throat prevented any chance of eating my usual amount of popcorn chased by Diet Coke. (Whooda thunk that could ever happen?) I might even have shed a tear or two for a couple of the cast that struggled to sing their parts (Russell and Amanda, you know who you are, just sayin') Anyway, great way to spend the day portion of this eve. (Yay, Anne!)

Cupcake Eating

From the outsides to the insides, we thoroughly enjoy devouring every bite of our cupcake selections bought earlier at the Cupcake store in the Mall of America.

My choice was the Mocha with dark chocolate cake and coffee cream frosting garnished with chocolate-covered coffee beans. Three of the group had Caramel and dense chocolate with creamy filling, One had the S'mores with the appropriately browned marshmallows on top. The two guys chose the June Cleaver, yellow cake with chocolate frosting and colored sprinkles (no photo necessary for those).

And of course the birthday girl gets presents!

Birthday Shopping and Singing

Sunday pm

Still at the MOA, we stop at the chef-winning Cupcake shop for each person to select a favorite for the constructed birthday cake later. The display window can apply to anyone not named Claire as well.

Next stop is the hermit crab kiosk where each granddaughter chooses two creatures and a habitat. They have been looking forward to these birthday gifts for some time. I think about the ones their mom and auntie collected on Texas beaches long ago.

The day ends with candles and singing for our girl now ten years old. Double digits!

Sushi Birthday

Sunday lunch

Birthday girl chooses sushi for lunch, so we stay at Mall of America and eat at Crave where anyone not wanting sushi has other possibilities. Granddaughtrs entertain themselves while waiting; daughters and I have adult beverages.

Guys and younger granddaughter do not have sushi, but we remaining four can hardly wait to get our chopsticks into those lovely pieces.

At the end of our meal, the waitress presents birthday girl with birthday cake, deep chocolate with ice cream and fresh strawberry. Granddaughter graciously offers bites to all of us. Yum!

Happy 10 Years

MN Sunday

Older granddaughter celebrates her actual birthday today, so we start with her breakfast of an oatmeal bar, much like a sundae bar after we pile on fruits, nuts, sweets, whipped cream, etc. and chocolate for some. Today's schedule sends us to the Mall of America with the first goal to ride the Rock Bottom Plunge.

Hey, girls! Whatcha doing'? Buying tickets for the rides!

There they are, two granddaughters with auntie, sitting in the front row as the car chugs to the top of the first drop. Girls take another turn while auntie takes a break.

The final ride is the Log Chute for a splashy experience.

Happy 8 Years

Saturday evening

Since we are celebrating younger granddaughter's birthday early, we have the menu featuring ribs she requests for dinner. Cheesecake is her dessert choice, and she carefully considers a wish before blowing out the candle.

Next come some presents, one box bigger than she is. It holds a stand for the Double Huggle Pod Santa brought her a few days ago.

With parental approval, we decide to give both girls gifts from us at this time since items are the same and older granddaughter's birthday is tomorrow. They read the cards first and have no idea what might be in the packages. When they unwrap new iPads, their eyeballs are surprised right out of their heads, according to my photos. In the happy excitement, they almost forget to open the presents containing the cases, solid turquoise for older and colorful plaid for younger.

Tomorrow will find us celebrating another birthday and continuing a schedule of party every day.

Going Up!

MN Saturday

Girls lose no time attaching their harnesses and scrambling up one of the surfaces to the top. Vertical Endeavors is literally crawling with patrons at all levels of difficulty in all areas of this large facility. About two-thirds are adults ages 20-40 , females and males about equal, getting a workout on the walls and sometimes in the gym section with machines and weights. Children 10-teens are the next group. I see only two people (both men) older than 50, and granddaughters are among the youngest here today.

Photos show younger granddaughter wearing white shirt, older red, and auntie green. Super indoor activity on a wintry day!