Sara's Birthday Extravaganza

Things are getting out of hand here in Duluth with all the birthday celebrations. First it was Kay's Birthday Extravaganza, then Lynn's Birthday Extravaganza and now my birthday extravaganza.

Dave put presents out in advance of the actual day.
Petra was certain the presents were for her.
I mean, why wouldn't they be?
She's so dang cute!

My mom invited us out to her house for cake the weekend before my birthday. Kris and Carolyn (and their kids Catherine and Emma) also were visiting. As soon as they pulled into town, the 6 of us headed out to Clover Valley for some country fun and German Chocolate cake. German Chocolate cake is my favorite. My mom makes it for me once a year and that is just the right amount. Kris thought it was so filling he dubbed it "the steak of cake's." Of course he had 2 pieces so it's no wonder he was full but he is also correct - it is amazingly dense cake - YUM.

Yes the "4" represents decades not years - good one mom.

We took a walk up to the old fire tower after lunch 

and then returned to my mom's to play on the swing...

That evening we joined Kris and Carolyn at The Edge Waterpark and Hotel where they had reserved a room for the night. What a blast! Dave and I stayed there once before about 4 years ago when we sold our country house and moved back to town but we didn't have nearly the amount of fun we had when we got to join friends on the waterslides.

Kris, Carolyn and kids joined us at our house on Monday for a few overnights. On Tuesday morning the Karsell's joined me for my yoga class and in the evening we went to Lynn and Mark's for dinner. Wednesday morning we stuffed ourselves at Uncle Louie's Diner and then the Karsell's headed home. Now we've celebrated both Dave's birthday and my birthday this year with them. How fun.

Dave and I had a few days to organize ourselves before our Hotdish potluck event on Sunday.

The weather has been beautiful so we took a walk on Park Point, skipped some stones, sat on the beach and enjoyed ourselves. This is the first time we've taken Petra to the beach since her knee surgery last fall. She did so good. She was very tired by the end of the walk and a little gimpy later in the day but by the next day she was just fine.

On Saturday, the day before the party, Dave and I blew up a bunch of balloons and stuck them to the ceiling with static cling. Some of the balloons didn't have enough integrity and would randomly explode, scaring the crap out of us and the dog. We lost about 6-10 balloons pre-party but only 1 at the actual party which was lucky since we live in the 'hood and people get scared by loud noises.

At the party:

We had a bunch of lovely guests (click the image to see larger).

 We had tator tots on cocktail toothpicks for appetizers
(don't try this at home).

Everyone went above and beyond in making tasty and beautiful hotdishes.

We even played party games: Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

The weekend after my birthday Emily took me out to dinner to celebrate since she couldn't make it to any of the other festivities. In all, I've had a great time celebrating for the past 4 weekends. 

Happy Birthday to me! I love being 40!