Double the Fun

June 16th is the girls' birthday and we spent a week or so celebrating...because that's what we do. Saturday was a big trip to the bike department of several stores. We actually drove up to Saginaw to shop just for fun. (Saginaw...not so much. Keep driving.) We stopped in another nearby town and found that perfect watermelon. It's a summer birthday thing - it was on the girls' list of celebratory items immediately. Watermelon, check. Bikes, strike out. We came back to our neck of the woods and found an absolutely beautiful Wal-Mart Super Center in a little place called Caro, MI. This place is set up like a Bed, Bath and Beyond store and I was much impressed. Still, a Wal-Mart, but very much nicer than that average box store. And the girls found their bikes! They've been looking at bicycles for a long time and every time they pick out something different. This time, when the purchase was made, they both bought the same bike. So cute.

While they shopped with Daddy for bikes, the rest of us did some secret birthday shopping without them. You know after buying the helmets, the knee pads, the elbow pads and the gloves I wonder how much more intense this bike experience can get. Can they move with all this garbage on them??? I rode a bike. It wasn't until my mission that I ever wore a helmet and I cursed it every single day.

Sunday, we pulled out the ice cream maker for their second big request - strawberry ice cream! Pints of cream and quarts of strawberries later, the ice cream maker died. So sad. So very sad. I was completely bummed and sorry to disappoint the girls. Enough of it froze that we had some very pitiful version of gelato...and our children remembered they don't really like ice cream because it's cold! They are so silly.

Monday was just fun and we played outside the whole day. Tuesday was their actual birthday. We started the day with chocolate chip waffles per another insane birthday request and we wrapped up with their final desire - pizza! They are really so easy to please. I felt guilty about the iced cream fiasco so I surprised them with a chocolate cake and five candles each. Love these girls.

Pulling out some blown out candles

Yeah, Grandma's chocolate cake recipe!

Who needs a spoon?