Fiesta Month 2010

As luck would have it, four of the six birthdays in our family happen within a three week period: mine on February 21st, Andrea's on March 2nd, and Jayden's and Owen's both on March 4th. This year, another unfortunate day of note coincided with our usual craziness with Andrea's grandmother passing away on February 28. We spent Andrea's birthday driving down to the San Luis Valley for her funeral services, but we also found time to celebrate the kids' birthday.

The first part of the celebration, on the big day itself, was an evening of fine dining at the Alamosa Burger King, which of course included some fun with cousins at the playland. Even better, when we got home that evening, the boys got to open some presents.

"Can I play with it now? Can I play with it now? Can I play with it now?"

"I am... eight years old!" "I... have claws!"

A few days later, on Saturday, we continued a tradition of having a birthday party for all the kids together at Andrea's parents' house, which is always attended by all the family in the area, including my parents, who drive the two hours up from Los Alamos, NM. As if a houseful of cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and other relatives weren't enough, we also had a piñata, cake, and of course more presents.

Star Wars toys, frosting and kids: an explosive combination

"I'll be with you just as soon as I finish building this log cabin."

"Can I play with it now? Can I play with it now? Can I play with it now?

"

Finally, to bring to a close the fiesta month, we threw the kids a birthday party in Greeley where they could invite their friends. At the boys' request, this event took place at that Mecca of childhood party-going, Chuck E. Cheese's, which of course made the previous party seem like a solemn prayer meeting at a monastery. But amid the pizza, cake and blur of video game noise, there were some extremely happy kids.

"Cry 'havoc,' and let slip the dogs of virtual mega-war!"

"No, officer, I wasn't speeding!"

"So make sure you don't change lanes in an intersect— hey, are you paying attention?"

"Hi ho Silver, away!"

The decorations have been put away now, the cake has long been eaten, the piñata candy has been... okay, well, we're still working on finishing that off, little by little. But fiesta month is behind us, and we're okay with it. There's always another one lurking on the horizon...