Happy Birthday Nicolas!

We have been busy, really busy! We had a marathon of a celebration for Nicolas' birthday. He is eleven years old now, but he likes to think that he is sixteen...

My son likes to play the electric guitar, he is not alone in this as many of his classmates play the drums, or the bass, or the electric guitar. They have bands (one band with different members each time) and they love to play together. He and his friends had been practicing for his birthday concert for a while, talking about it for ages... this concert was meant to be the centerpiece of the celebration! What is a mother to do? Well, in my case, I cleaned out the garage for the performance, arranged for husband to go pick up a drum set, and held a general practice on Saturday morning. Then on Saturday afternoon all the guests (eleven of them, including three girls) arrived for a day of fun.


First, they had to go down to the nearby farm, to look at the animals, hide around the buildings, and feel completely independent... the farm is down the road from the house, and to hear them talk about it you would think that Disney missed out on something... They love the fact that they can go on their own to the place, and they can explore, and roll on the hay, and chase the chickens, and pet the horses, and who knows what else. After the farm, it is time to explore the nearby trail, as it is quite isolated, and surrounded by forests...


Tired from the walk we headed down to the town for the best gelato around, and then we went back home. It was concert time -but it was not to happen- as Nicolas' guitar broke a string! Nick decided to sit with everyone else and watch his friends play... but wait, his good friend Sam's dad gave him the best gift of the day, as he found out what had happened and came to the house with a brand new set of strings!!! What kindness!

The concert went on for a while, until they took a break to dance the night away after eating... and dance they did... the whole house danced with the beat! Just loud, delicious fun.

They settled for a while to watch a movie, some left at eleven or so, and some others stayed the night. I wouldn't dare call this a sleep over, because we did not sleep much. Pancakes for breakfast gave a sweet end to our all around celebration.