Monday, October 26, 2009

Southwest Adventure Part 2: July 4 in Denver and an Early Birthday Party for My Dad

July 4 has turned into quite a Koyama family holiday. Last year we all gathered in Denver for surprise birthday party for my Mom, and this year again we all got together for an early birthday party for my Dad. It was great to have everyone together in the same spot-- the Seattle Gees (Uncle Tony, Aunt Joni, Alyssa and Jared), Heather and Postie, the Reeves (Jasmine, John, Ella and Tyler), Mom and Dad, Poo Poo and Gung Gung, Auntie Mable and Uncle David.

Everyone always wears their special July 4 outfits. I chose a Nieves Lavi dress with a tie dye/fireworks print. Ella and Tyler had their red, white and blue star spangled outfits on. Well, Tyler wasn't star spangled as much as lobster spangled.



In addition to all of the family coming over, it really turned into a neighborhood party with all of our neighbors and family friends there as well. John's family (Mom, Dad and sister) also joined us. Some of our neighbors have been our neighbors for 30 years! It was great to catch up with all of them and spend time together.

Here's a picture of the newlyweds in front of the appetizers. We were disappointed that Postie did not have a matching shirt with Ella this year.


As a special surprise for Dad, Mom ordered 2 cakes for him, one with a bonsai theme and the other with a Hawaii theme. We hid the cakes in my room in the basement so that he wouldn't see it. As a big surprise we put 61 candles on the cake in honor of his birthday. An even bigger surprise was that for some unknown reason my sisters and I decided to light all 61 candles downstairs in the basement. Do you know how much heat and flame comes off of 61 candles? Well, the answer is A LOT. And we found out that not only is it very difficult to walk up the stairs carrying a cake with 61 flaming candles, but that the heat will also melt the cake and create a hot river of wax.

Happy 60th Birthday Dad!



Once it got dark we got to the guys' favorite part of the night-- FIREWORKS. Earlier in the day they went on a mission to buy all types of fireworks, and Auntie Mable also contributed to the pyrotechnic fun. Here's Ella holding her first sparkler:



The funniest part was when everyone started lining up the lawn chairs like this was a performance:



And here were the stars of our show (that's not a beer, but a beer firework!):



It was a true, all-American holiday with family and friends at the Koyama cul-de-sac.

1 comment:

Ma said...

Bood--Great postings of great times