My very happy birthday

I have entered into my last year of young-hood. Yep, as of June 29th, I am now 29. As I am writing this, I realized now that it was my golden birthday, 29 on the 29th. I remember thinking of that when I was younger and thinking it won't be for a looooong time. Hmm....Next year I will be old. Or at least my age will be. Or perhaps I will adopt my friend's advice and be "forever 29"

I had a wonderful birthday. I loved all the phone calls and cards from people I love. It makes me feel great to think that people think of me!

Three people especially did great things for me on my birthday that made it really nice. First of all, Kay, Nate's mom, watched Kezia and Ivy over night Friday night and it was great to have a break. Saturday morning Nate and I dropped Elysse off at her house and had a great paddle down the river. Nate finally finished the paddle he gave me for Christmas, and it works great! Not bad for a first try.

We began at Three Tables and paddled all the way to Haleiwa, about a 5 mile distance. We stopped at a beach for lunch and a snorkel, and once we got back on our boards, the wind had switched direction and the water was choppy, testing our will to get to the end. In all, it took us 5 hours to get to the shore, a lot longer than we were anticipating. It has been a while since I have been in water, which is where I feel most at peace, and it's been a while since Nate and I have had time together, so spending that much time in the water with my best friend was a great birthday celebration.

But that wasn't all. Kezia made sure of that. Since the beginning of May, Kezia has been compiling gift bags in the corner of her room full of paper gifts for me. Every day she has asked me how many more days until my birthday. Sunday morning she presented me with all the gifts. I pulled out math equations and words spelled on paper, collages, pictures of women from a magazine ("because (I) would like them") a bracelet made from a magazine picture, a paper fan, clips of black construction paper, and a birthday crown. How cool is that?



But it didn't end there. Unknown to me, she had a whole birthday celebration planned. After I unwrapped my gifts, she said, "Well, since you don't have a pinata, we'll just have to make one." Soon she was back with paper bags filled with toys from around the house and a golf club. It was pretty funny to see Kezia try to protect her face while holding the pinata for Ivy to swing at. Then it was Ivy's turn to hold a bag. She held it right next to her chest and said, "Ok, Kezia, hit it!" Thankfully, Kezia, the wiser one, showed her how to hold it to the side.

Ivy taking a swing at the brown bag pinata

Then we had a pony ride down the hall on the golf club. And then we performed hula hoop tricks. What a great daughter (and daughters) I have.

The girls spent the day again with Grandma, who gave me a beautiful, homemade plumeria lei. That evening we went back to her house for a classic Burgoyne feast with a classic chocolate cake with too many hot candles on top.



And the evening ended with a luxurious foot massage by Nate.

Yes, I had a great birthday.