Happy 12th Birthday!

Ready to zipline with Julianna
Anna celebrated her 12th birthday on September 3, which also happened to be Labor Day this year.  As she reminded her parents numerous times, she will be a teenager next year.  Ack!!

Since it was a holiday weekend, Anna really did celebrate the entire weekend beginning with a sleepover with 5 of her friends on Friday night.  The party also doubled as a back-to-school celebration.  It was exceedingly hot over the weekend, so a trip to the pool seemed to be a good idea.  Anna also requested that her Dad make his "legendary" pizza (apparently it is now legendary among Anna's friends).  There were a few challenges with the party, but the girls had a great time.

Birthday slumber party
The first problem was the pizza dough, which Joe left Theresa in charge of for a period of time during the day.  Apparently Theresa missed a critical step, which resulted in an emergency call to the local pizza place (two of Joe's pizzas came out).  Next the girls were planning a late evening swim at the pool, but apparently the hours changed and it was closed.  Theresa took the dog out, only to come home and find Joe with a plunger and a container of bleach (apparently there was a toilet overflow).  Then it was time for ice cream cake....except that one of Anna's friends was lactose intolerant (thankfully there were a few Popsicles left).  The next morning, one of the moms who was coming to pick up one of the girls was nearly in an accident at the end of the street when a neighborhood teenager ran a stop sign (and it was the same mom who was in a serious accident 5 months ago when a teenager ran a stop sign and hit her...she was a bit shook up).  Needless to say, it was a memorable party.  It was a good thing Saturday was a recovery day for Anna....and her parents.

Anna's actual birthday on Monday involved one of her favorite things to do:  ziplining.  Anna, her friend Julianna, and Theresa headed up to Sandy Spring Adventure park in the 95 degree heat for a morning of tree climbing and ziplining.  They headed back in the afternoon and enjoyed the final hours of the pool with Dad and the rest of the neighborhood.  It was so hot that Theresa was willing to join the mom cannonball competition at one of the pool breaks (Anna informed her she needs to work on her form).  Anna finished out the day with nachos, tacos, cake, and homemade ice cream.  Most importantly to her was the gift - a new computer to replace the old laptop that is actually older than her.

Happy 12th Birthday!


A new computer at last!

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