Happy Birthday

Today our little girl turns 3 years old! Wow! That was fast. She went from an infant to a precocious toddler in the blink of an eye. We had her birthday party this past weekend at the house. Everyone, young and old, had a great time.

We only bought Haley one gift for her birthday, but it was a BIG one. We got her a really nice swing set with a slide and playhouse attachment. "Some assembly required." Now there's an understatement. I spent every available second of free-time this past week putting the swing set together, even going so far as taking a day off from work. Construction was completed a scant few hours before the start of the party on Saturday. Every ounce of effort was well worth it. All the kids loved it, and it was well-utilized before the sun went down on its first day as a fixture of our yard. Haley is probably climbing around on it as I type this.

Nicole did a great job on the party. She planned the party with a Hawaiian theme. The invitations were printed on paper "slippahs" (flip-flops), and the cake had a flower lei around the words "Happy 3rd Birthday Haley". The food she prepared was amazing. For Christmas, my mother got her a cookbook by a famous Hawaiian chef. She made a number of dishes from that book. In a word, "ono" (delicious)! Even the ice-cream was coconut-flavored, and tasted like "haupia", a Hawaiian treat.

The next day was Father's Day. Despite having slaved all week to make Haley's party a success, Nicole still found the time to make me homemade cinnamon rolls. Mmmmm. We also opened Haley's birthday presents on Sunday morning. She spent the rest of the day playing with her new toys and trying on her cute new outfits.

I'll try to get some pictures up in the next few days.