Why just a day when you can have a Party Week

When we lived in Utah while we were engaged, we began a tradition called The Birthday Week. It started as a joke. Gus said that he thought that birthdays were so wonderful that they really should go on for a week, instead of just a day. Our resources were limited at the time and it seemed like a good way to make him feel special without blowing our wedding fund. The idea stuck and now, every year, our birthdays are looked forward to with much anticipation. Today marked the end of Gus' Birthday Week. Here's a recap:



Gus called from his tutoring appointment and suggested we meet him down in Northwest. And so we did. The day was beautifully sunny and we caught the very end of it. We played in the yard of Chapman School with Chie for a little while; Chie rode the swings again (she and I had stopped at the park on our errands earlier in the day) and we discovered how difficult it is to get a picture of a moving toddler. She tried the slide for the first time too but didn't seem entirely thrilled with moving that quickly while falling at the same time. And in the midst of it all, Gus got this shot. I was whispering in her ear and she was, at least for the moment, rapt at the sound of my voice and very, very still. We headed home after that and made our incredible fish tacos with chipotle sauce. It was a nice night.

Tuesday we met again in Northwest and wandered around until it was time for me to get a long-delayed haircut. That night was kind of crazy because after my haircut, I had to go up to work for a few hours. Chie got pretty maxed out while Gus tried to entertain her and by the end of the evening, we just collapsed into bed. But the promise of dinner at Andina the next night helped us hold on.



Gus' dad took this shot of him blowing out his birthday candles. The two-thumbs up is part of a signature move, performed at the table while we all laughed along with his crazy dance moves. The dinner itself was incredible. Our waiter was fabulous and was able to accomodate the varied tastes at the table (including a plain steak and potato for those in our party who were not up for a Peruvian take on cuisine). We'd gone there a few weeks before to check it out and absolutely fell in love with the range of tastes. Here's a shot of the causa, Gus' favorite dish:



Gus' birthday was decidedly more low-brow. We went down to Northwest, again, to a taqueria on the strip. We busied Chie with taco chips to keep her happy while we ate



and then stopped at Mio Gelato for some mango and cinnamon goodness



We had been having a lot of fun but that night, we agreed that we were both getting a bit exhausted from all of the festivities. And so Friday, we just took it easy and spent time as a family, bumming around. It was actually quite lovely. And it gave us time to gear up for the big party that we held on Saturday with friends. We had, at the peak, almost thirty people. Some of them were friends that we see all of the time, some were friends that we only see once in a great while. And one couple were friends of friends that we'd never met before! It was crazy. Gus took command of the pizza station and cranked out a variety of pies, all of which disappeared within moments of being cut.

Our friend Eric took command of the camera that night. Here are a few of the shots that he took. They give a great feeling for the energy that night:





















The aftermath of the party wasn't too bad, either. I guess all of those loads of dishes that I did in the midst of the festivities paid off. We were highly surprised at the amount of diet soda that was consumed, however. Hopefully none of our friends will find their brains rotting under our watch.



It was a wonderful week together. I'm just glad that we have a few months of a break from the partying! Chie's birthday is coming, of course, but she gets coddled nearly every day. I don't think she'll notice a difference.