Tag: birthday

Corinne’s 7th Birthday

March 20, 2022 9:42 am

Corinne’s birthday was a smashing success this year. School was an early-release day because they’re doing parent-teacher conferences this week. When she got home from school her treasure hunt was ready and waiting.

First she needed to find which cone was hiding the next clue.

But when she did reveal it, she didn’t see it (in the blue).

But she eventually noticed and moved on to the Chasm of Chaos!

The clue collected from the chasm of chaos directed her to the shooting gallery.

Which was a bit more difficult than intended and we all took turns helping out.

The four clues indicated they would need to be assembled.

Upon assembly their bread-shape was clear and the clues said that to reveal the next secret the bread would need to be toasted (toast is one of Corinne’s most favorite foods).

Interesting photography note: The photo was apparently captured between LED refreshes on the toaster oven display which appears blank.

After a thorough toasting a message written in invisible ink (lemon juice) was revealed. The paintbrush I used was a bit too big and the juice spread a bit too much, but they managed to decipher about 90% of it without help.

She then found the elephant that was sitting on a blanket that was hiding her presents in the family room.

A chicken, from Heather. It looks like the chickens they’re raising in their co-op game of Stardew Valley.

Corinne’s teacher read the book Slugs in Love at school on Valentine’s Day and Corinne was absolutely in love with it. So we gave her a copy for her birthday and Grandma made the two slugs as stuffed animals. Corinne just about popped when she unwrapped them.

The slugs smooching.
The just-released, 9th “Princess in Black” book.

London didn’t want to miss out on the family excitement, but was less enthused.

After presents I had to go back to my closet and do more work and before dinner the girls had gymnastics class. But once they got home it was Corinne’s favorite dinner: spaghetti! And then cake!

On Saturday we went to the zoo with the Spencers because that’s what Corinne wanted to do to celebrate. So she got to be in charge of where we went. We had lunch of chicken strips, hamburgers, and corn dogs at the zoo. Afterwards we stopped at the Ghirardelli factory store for ice cream.

Heather’s Birthday 2021

October 30, 2021 10:00 am

A busy, busy day for Heather’s birthday. School for the girls, of course. And work for me. Last year Heather had been a little disappointed at my treasure hunt. It was all very mental and she prefers to have some physical tasks as well. So this year was a mix of physical and mental challenges.

Once I was home from work (meaning I wrapped up my last meeting and could leave my closet) we let the games begin. Her presents had been locked up by some mischievous minion and only by completing her challenges and assembling clues could she possibly discover the code to unlock the box.

She started with the Strings of Despair! 7 strings criss-crossed the front yard connecting the numbers 1-7 to letters on the other side. Some went through the leaf pile that Corinne made last weekend.

With the mapping of numbers to letters in hand, she next had to cross the Chasm of Chaos! She must cross the bottomless pit via the rickety ladder, while collecting clues along the way. The rung wrapped in blue has broken off and fallen into the abyss and she must cross without it.

Aside: We got some great color on our tree this fall. Just look at it in the background there!

The clues from the Chasm of Chaos connected colors to numbers. Next she needed to use her assembled information to determine how to safely cross the Mines of Mystery!

Using the letter/number pairs from the Strings of Despair she was able to determine the safe path through the minefield and collect the color of the dud mines along the way. Next she needed to decode the colors of the mines into numbers using the information from the Chasm of Chaos. The decoded colors revealed the combination to the lock.

After presents it was time to go to gymnastics. After gymnastics we were going to pick up dinner from First Street Ale House to eat before cake. But Heather came stumbling back into the house in tears less than halfway through class. She had apparently injured her neck while doing a somersault and was in considerable pain. So we postponed our birthday dinner plans until the next night and grabbed McDonald’s. After some ibuprofen, food, and rest she was up for cake.

Per Heather’s request, Jess made a vanilla cake with chocolate-cream filling, chocolate frosting, and some crumbled Andes mints on top.

Jess’ Birthday 2021

September 25, 2021 10:34 am

Monday was Jess’ birthday which started with getting the girls off to school and me to work (in my closet). She went to lunch with a friend and the girls had homework and swim class in the afternoon. I dropped the girls off at home after swim class and drove out to Melo’s to pick up dinner while Jess got the girls cleaned (and heated up chicken nuggets for Corinne). Potato/bacon pizza for Jess, pepperoni/chicken calzone for me, and cheese pizza for Heather.

After dinner was cake and presents!

So far I haven’t had a great track record in picking birthday cakes that Jess loves, but this year we seem to have a winner. I spent the weekend attempting a new cake cobbled together from a couple of other recipes: A salted-caramel cheesecake with blondie crust and salted-caramel topping.

It ended up a little undercooked–the center wasn’t fully set, but it was still delicious.

And presents!

Kyle’s Birthday 2021

June 13, 2021 10:52 am

My birthday this year was also the penultimate day of school for the girls and a remote-learning day. I worked from my closet for the morning while the girls got their schoolwork done and took the afternoon off. After lunch we went for a short walk at Sycamore Grove mainly as an excuse to get out of the house. The weather was probably the coolest I’ve had for a birthday in over a decade with a high of about 65F.

Our Sycamore Grove “hikes” rarely make it further than the hollowed out tree about a half-mile along the trail. But it makes a good stopping point and fun pictures:

After our walk in the park it was time for the girls’ art class. Jess dropped them off and I sat on the couch and read a book while the house was quiet.

Once the girls were home from art class I opened presents!

Japanese, wooden, animal knick-knacks
All 3 “Castle Panic” expansions! Ahhhhhh!

With presents opened it was time to figure out dinner. I drove out to the Cheesecake Factory to pick up food–the spicy chicken chipotle pasta is yummy.

And, of course, after dinner was cake!

Bonus picture of Heather with her eyes crossed:


After work on Friday we went to Boomers! and played miniature golf to celebrate my birthday and the end of school.

Yesterday, Saturday, we went over to some friends’ house and played a board game. With vaccinations going into effect and infection rates dropping life is starting to go back to normal.

Corinne and I got 2 pandemic birthdays, but it looks like Heather and Jess will only have one. Alameda County moved to the yellow tier this week and California is still planning to lift most remaining state-imposed restrictions this week on the 15th (there will still be some restrictions on mass gatherings). Messaging has been unclear and I’m not sure if Alameda County will retain any restrictions beyond the state’s or not.

Corinne’s 6th Birthday

March 20, 2021 11:02 am

Corinne celebrated her second pandemic birthday this week.

She had a treasure hunt at lunch time to find her presents.

I had to go on site to work for the afternoon. While I was gone Jess helped Corinne construct that Lego set. When I got home Corinne and I played with it all the way until dinner time.

Corinne’s requested dinner, the best dinner she could ever imagine, was spaghetti with alfredo sauce and mashed potatoes. We offered to include toast (one of her most loved foods), but she turned it down because when she has two things on her plate that she really loves (toast and spaghetti) she’ll only eat one of them and then be full without getting to enjoy the other. We suggested having less of each to be able to enjoy both, but she turned that down too; too risky.

After dinner was cake. Corinne was very excited about the nightlight ladybug thing she received, so it needed to pose with her.

Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and a vanilla (but pink colored) mousse filling. Decorated with Hershey kisses around the edge, one of her favorite candies.

On Friday we took the afternoon off for a trip to the zoo. We were all pretty wiped out though. Not sure if it was from the time change or a year of incredibly sedentary lifestyle or both, but we only covered about 1/3 of the zoo before coming home. Corinne’s favorite part was riding the gondola to the top where the bears, bison, wolves, and eagles are. Those animals weren’t her favorite, the gondola ride itself was her favorite.