Adam turns 9!

Yesterday, Adam's long-awaited 9th birthday finally arrived.  He'd been counting down every day for the last week or so, and he was so excited to wake up Saturday morning and finally be nine years old!  Although, he wasn't technically nine years old until 1:00 p.m., because that is the time he was born. 

We got pizza for lunch at Liberty Pizza.  It is the most Americanized pizza place we have found here in Berlin, and it really is pretty good.  Because it was his birthday, Adam got his own little pizza all to himself.

After lunch, we picked up Adam's friend Rohan and went to Jack's Fun World.  Rohan is seriously the nicest 8 year old boy I have ever met.  Usually, I try to avoid boys between the ages of 8 and 13, because I just find them irritating.  I call it The Phase (just look at Adam's face in the above picture for a visual example of why I find The Phase irritating.  But, I have to love my own kid, right?).  However, Rohan is delightful, and I was glad he could join us for Adam's birthday. 

We found Jack's Fun World on the internet, and thought it sounded like a good place to celebrate Adam's birthday.  Sure enough, Jack's Fun World didn't disappoint.  There were all kinds of different fun things for the kids to climb, ride, and do.

Ball pits give me the creeps, because of all the germs and goobers you hear about growing in them.  There were signs all over Jack's Fun World bragging about their clean, hygienic ball pits (at least I think that is what they said - the signs were all in German of course), so I let Lukie go crazy.  He thought he was in heaven!

 The most popular attraction was the Bumper Boats, and there was a big line for them most of the day.  About an hour before closing time, the crowds started to leave, so by the end of the day our kids could get on the Bumper Boats over and over again without having to wait in line.  It was a great way to finish off the day!

Look Ma, no hands!

After Jack's Fun World, we came home to blow out the candles on Adam's fantastic birthday cake.  My friend Susanne is a Cake Maker Extraordinaire, so I asked her to make Adam's birthday cake.  He requested a volcano, and when I told Susanne, I expected she would make a sheet cake cut into a triangle to resemble a volcano, then add red and orange frosting to the tip for lava.  Well, Susanne far exceeded our expectations!  This is the 3D volcano cake she came up with, complete with boiled sugar lava firing out the top.  It was awesome!

 

Lighting the candles only added to the volcano effects!

I can't believe it has been nine years since Adam joined our family.  When he was born, he had the cutest pixie face and a headful of blond, downy hair.  He was by far my easiest baby; he only whimpered when he was hungry, ate well, and fell asleep on his own.  I used to tell people he was more like having a pet than a baby.  He is still a very well-behaved, easy-going boy.  He is also unusually sensitive to other people and careful not to hurt others' feelings. 

Probably the thing I admire most about Adam is his self-assuredness and confidence.  Brad and I have always called him "Our Little Participater" because he wants to try everything.  He treats the world like it is his oyster, never afraid to give any new experience a go.  When we moved here, he made friends immediately, and he is absolutely the best new German-speaker in our family.  He has no fear about speaking German to Germans; a couple of weeks ago at McDonalds, Jessica was too shy to order herself a hot chocolate, so Adam took the money from her, marched up to the counter, and ordered it for her all in German without missing a beat.

Adam is just a fun kid to raise.  I am so grateful to be his mom!