The American Family Goerss: Super Happy Birthdays!

July is definitely birthday month in our family. Jeff and Vivian usually get a couple celebrations, plus there's 4th of July and a bunch of our other friends' birthdays. There's a lot to celebrate :-)

The girls and I got to the States on July 3rd, so up first was the 4th of July. The girls got into the spirit.

My dad grilled some hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch, and Elena discovered that she likes corn on the cob.

Some of our best friends from our posting in Thailand are now back in the States, and they have a big place with a lovely backyard within view of several fireworks displays, so in the afternoon we headed out to celebrate with them. It was great to see them again. They also set up a seasonal pool for the kids, so the girls spent most of the afternoon playing outside. They managed to stay awake until the fireworks which were a lot of fun. They then promptly fell asleep on the car ride home.

We had the rest of the week free to hang out with my parents and some of our other good friends from Thailand who live in Arlington now. We were so busy having fun, that I didn't take many pictures, but I got a good one of Vivian and Grandpa heading out for a walk.

We also did practical things, like taking the girls to the mall to buy new sneakers. Of course, they found the less than practical aspect to it.

Safta was also persuaded to make some Disney story purchases.

That Saturday was Vivian's official birthday party, even though it was a couple days early. Our friends agreed to host it as a camp out, and we got our big group of Thailand friends together which was a ton of fun. Not only did the kids have the pool, but they also got to have a water balloon fight.

Elena and her little buddy joined in too. They had a great time, since none of the big kids were allowed to hit "the babies", so they could attack without consequences.

Once the water balloons were out and the kids had recovered a bit, we sang happy birthday and had some cake for a snack. Mom had pre-assembled as much of the cake as she could, and my friends and I worked on adding the finishing touches. The whole thing was devoured in about 15 minutes, so I think it was a success.

We sent the kids back out to play, and our fabulous hosts put out an incredible dinner spread. This is just a fraction of it.

We let the kids get some food and then sent them back out to eat. When it got dark, we all gathered around the fire for s'mores dessert.

Luckily, I had put Elena into her PJs before the fireside festivities, because she crawled into my lap and fell asleep while we were all hanging out.

She barely stirred when I took her up to bed. The big kids all slept outside in tents, and the littles slept with their parents. Elena was in a great mood the next day.

We stayed for more food and outdoor fun, but eventually we had to head back to Arlington. The girls both started camp the next day, and it was Vivian's for real birthday. Unfortunately, Vivian woke up on her birthday morning with a fever, so I decided to keep her home to rest. Elena went to her camp though which had a rainforest theme for the week, and came home thrilled with her day's work.

By the evening, Vivian was feeling better, but she still opted to open her presents on the sofa. There were the usual toys, and then she got what she described as "just a card" from Judy. Well, her reaction changed as she read what the card said.

It said, Happy Birthday! Do you want to go see Taylor Swift in concert with me tomorrow night? Well, the answer was a resounding yes. They put on Taylor Swift music to celebrate and Elena and my dad broke into a dance.

Luckily Viv was mostly recovered by the next day and able to go enjoy herself at her first live concert.

Elena got a present as well, some new play doh with fun equipment.

Jeff arrived on Thursday, and it was great to have everyone together. Grandpa and Grandma Goerss also came to visit and we all got to go out to Jeff's favorite steak restaurant for his birthday.

I had finally lost patience with the girls' hair that morning and taken them both to get hair cuts, which ended up working out nicely for pictures, although Elena refused to be ponytailed.