Our Big Boy turns the big five this week. We’re not ones to go overboard for special occasions, but this year’s a bit different.
With Covid and a big move, there’s been a lot of changes and adjustments that haven’t always been easy.
But we’re fortunate to have found ourselves in this beautiful corner of the world where life at the moment feels, dare I say, normal. Or at least as normal as daily life can feel in a popular tropical beach town (which does feel pretty darn normal to us after eight months).
In addition to the usual (low key family time opening up a few presents, and birthday cake time at school), we’ve added something completely new [to us] this year.
Lori and I are hosting our very first birthday party for one of our kids. Yep, we’ve managed to make it six birthdays (between the two boys) without getting sucked into that madness. But I think this one’s going to be fun.
Beach time, good food, and friends. No frills. Well, that’s if you don’t call croissants, agua fresca, and a piñata frills.
A nod to Noe’s French roots in Laos and Cambodia. These look like they’ll do. We’re having them bake up a fresh batch of two dozen to pick up just before the fiesta.
Next, agua fresca. We’ve been eying this place for a while. Evidently, so has Riley.
Noe’s choice is sandia (watermelon), which they say they’ll have ready to pick up on party day.
The rains have forced me to get creative with my grilling. Sadly, I think my rooftop grilling days are numbered.
The norm is to grill up something after the boys go down for a nice quiet couple’s dinner, then feeding leftovers to the boys the next day.
Today, we’re attempting a grilled dinner with the boys, with Wily Riley watching safely from his secured perch.
Heading to Malpaso Beach via the Jungle Temple.
Lori went into labor with Noe on Father’s Day. Ever since, I’ve known full well that I’d be sharing my special time of year with Noe. But I don’t mind. After all, he’s the [original] reason why I get the special day in the first place.
And that message was all the boys, of course. Well…Noe may have started writing and Lori may or may not have added a letter or two.
Father’s Day is actually tomorrow, but we’re doing Noe’s birthday party tomorrow. His actual birthday is on Monday.
We had to do a little switch-a-roo due to the weather. Lori originally sent out the WhatsApp invites for a Saturday party. But the forecast changed and the weather for Saturday was suddenly looking no bueno, certainly not for a beach party.
We weren’t sure if anyone would actually show up for an hour or two around noon on Father’s Day, but this is Sayulita, and things are pretty laid back here.
So rather than having a total wash out, we thought we’d take our chances.
Noe surveys his piñata, which admittedly could use a solid dusting. Lori took him to a little bodega in town to pick one out.
Hanging from the ceiling among a sea of Disney characters was this dusty star (likely left over from New Years).
Disney characters don’t really mean anything to Noe, and he was instantly drawn to this one, so this one it is. I for one wouldn’t have minded seeing a dozen kids going to town on Olaf the happy snow creature, but a star is nice too.
Dinner entertainment.
Yep, a pretty nasty afternoon.
And Sunday…
Looks like we made the right call on the weather. Let’s see if anyone shows up.
This guy’s ready for a party!
Of course, Sayulita didn’t disappoint. We should have known better.
We managed to get through the piñata portion of the program without any tears or serious injuries. With a dozen little ones, that’s no small feat.
All the kids were pretty great.
We asked folks not to bring gifts, just themselves. Given that we move every year or so, we don’t need a lot of stuff. Good memories are fine by us.
In Mexico, not asking for birthday gifts for a birthday party is sacrilege, so I’m sure some folks thought we were pretty weird. But we’re used to that.
An awesome little get together with great people. Noe had a blast, which meant we did our job. Sayulita will be a tough act to follow. Chacala definitely has its work cut out.
Because you can never have enough beach time, especially on your birthday, we returned to the beach after nap time.
But conditions had changed a bit.
On Monday, Noe’s actual birthday, we stopped by a little cake shop in town and made our way to Noe’s school.
The school here in Sayulita has a similar tradition to the creche he attended in Laos.
For each kid on their birthday, the parents bring a birthday cake to the school, everybody sings, the kid blows out the candles, and the cake is divided among the class.
In a class of 20 kids, that’s a lot of birthdays, and a lot of cake.
Noe’s cake had a rough ride on the golf cart through the jungle to get here. Fortunately, Noe didn’t seem to mind.
This tradition (taking a bite out of the cake) is unique to Mexico. They did not do this in Laos.
Jungle school.
Happy birthday boy.
Later on, Noe finally got to open up his birthday “surprises.” He’s a patient birthday boy. Riley isn’t always a patient birthday observer. But he is only two.
All that Noe’s been asking for since we moved here is a mask and snorkel so he can going snorkeling with daddy (and mommy, but he hasn’t seen mommy do as much snorkeling). He wasn’t quite ready then, but he’s definitely ready now.
I picked up the best kids snorkel and mask that I could find in town (at a pharmacy on the way to the beach). But it’s still not quite what I’d like for him. Fins would also be nice at some point.
Noe was super excited and ready to take to the water, which is what matters.
Mom managed to finagle one last slice of cake for one more “Happy Birthday” to round out the day. We all know it’s because she wanted a big helping of that frosting.
Happy FIVE to our imaginative, caring, helpful, jungle-hiking, ocean-loving Big Boy. We can hardly believe it!
