TJs 9th Birthday

Celebrated TJs 9th Birthday in New Zealand. TJ woke up with the sun. She made her way through the mist to the semi-visible car and gathered the gifts from the dash. The whole family piled into mum and dad’s tent and opened the first of her gifts.

The tents were still soggy with mist when we then packed them into the car  for a day of birthday adventures.

First stop was with one of Andrew’s childhood friends. She had 11 kids. She has been busier than us. Instant party! We thought one cake just wasn’t big enough so we made 3. Seeing as the theme was an “apple birthday” we decorated the cakes with apples.

Of course, we had an assortment of New Zealand sweeties.

Feeling a need to climb a mountain on such a momentous day we climbed up one of the many volcanos in Auckland.

After the long hike we went to the Allis Family’s house for more cake. Actually we were supposed to have just one apple strudel (Margaret promised to show us how to make an easier pastry from scratch). However, all the bakers were feeling festive so we ended up with 3 cakes. Elizabeth made  a blueberry and sourcream cake. Abi made half of a lemon cake. Luke made the other half of Abi’s cake chocolate. Then Margaret made a large apple strudel that we affectionately called “the slug”.

At the end of the day, TJ took great joy in recounting all 6 (or was that 5 and 2 halves) birthday cakes. She loves to count and what can be more fun to count than birthday cakes.