Chad's Birthday

My favorite pic of the day.  Check out all of the smoke from those candles!!

Ok.  Let's start back at the beginning.  I stayed up late to decorate a surprise breakfast birthday table.

Chad sampling the homemade pancakes with apples, pecans, and cream.  Yum!

James isn't sure whether he likes his pancakes better in or out of his mouth.

Chad trying to act surprised by the birthday gift he bought for himself :-)  New home phones.

Chad's mom came bearing peaches from her peach tree.  So we spent part of the day pealing, cutting, and eating peaches.  We made a few pies, and froze the rest :-)

We took James to ride on the Carousel.  He loved it!  

Here is Grandma riding side saddle!

James pulls a face when asked if it's time to get off.

We got to ride for free, so we could go around as many times as we wanted.  Dad got pretty dizzy!

Time for a birthday dinner.  I had to get a pic of the beautiful table!

Chad decided stake and potatoes would be the birthday meal of choice.

I'd say we went a bit overboard on all of the menu items . . .

Can you make out the number on that cake? :-)

Chad's mom made him his favorite: german chocolate cake.  It was delicious!

Ok.  Now the number is fairly obvious.  34!!!

Here's that classic pic again.  I think he blew them all out in one breath!

Saying goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa

Returned Missionaries Hit the Streets . . . of Las Vegas

It's not quite a rainforest in Tobago, but close.  

The Wynngate Hotel.

Showing it exactly how it was :-)  

Chad's still smiling.  He must love that boy!  

The fountain outside the Wynngate 

On our way to the Venetian

Here we are in Venice.  The dome ceiling is painted like the sky.  They dimmed the lights, so you can't really see much from the picture.

Mom and Dad just chillin'

Here we are by the indoor river with Gondola drivers passing by.

You can't really see the river behind us, but it was pretty fun :-)

Masquerade!

A live band was performing Jazz in the streets of the Venetian.  A flute and 2 guitars.

Dad wishing he would have brought his harmonica along :-)

This beats muckin' around in the streets of Tobago!  Where's the gelato?