Ben's Thirteenth

Ben's birthday fell on a Monday this year, which meant he had cross-country practice after school, and then the rest of the family would be here and there for other activities, so we celebrated together on Sunday...and a little bit on Monday, too.  It being an odd birthday year, it's a family party year, and the only thing Ben has wanted to do for his birthday for a long time is to take a family camping trip so he could use all the cool new gear he was hoping to receive (and did receive) for his birthday.  Unfortunately, that means we have to wait until October 3rd to really celebrate Ben's birthday, when we have our only soccer-free weekend of the season.  So we have a fun surprise location for that weekend for our boy!

Until then, here's how we celebrated:

• A delicious birthday brunch of aebelskivers made by Dad.
• Gifts galore!  If the Zombie Apocalypse comes, we are counting on Ben.  Ben is now ready to live off the land and off the grid.  All he wanted this year was gear to add to his "go bag."  A hatchet, knife (the non-pocket variety), SOL pocket survival kit, ten-pack of reflective emergency blankets, a LifeStraw individual water filter and 150 feet of paracord.  We also gave him an iPhone, at long last, because he's sure he's the last person he knows who doesn't have a phone.  And, because he's Ben, he also wanted a Spirograph kit.  If you know Ben, this all makes perfect sense.  The only things he received that really said "13-year-old boy" and not "Man Versus Wild" to me, were things that he did not ask for (but still really liked), a few UnderArmour clothing items, that I picked out for him.
• Lemon chicken orzo soup with homemade rolls for dinner.
• A pile of Mom's secret recipe chocolate chip cookies instead of boring old cake.
• On Monday, his actual birthday, I brought Panda Express takeout to him for lunchtime at school.
• He got to choose a second delicious dinner, because why not?  Spinach fettuccine alfredo with shrimp followed by gooey, caramely, chocolaty carmelitos. 
• Window shopping with Dad at REI and building a wishlist worthy of any rugged outdoorsman.  Bring on Christmas!

We adore Ben, we are so proud of him and hope we made him feel as special as we think he is on his very special day.  And we're all looking forward to that camping trip in October.  Hopefully winter doesn't arrive too early this year; this campout involves some water fun!