On Tuesday Gianna turned 2! We can't believe it! She had such a fun day. It started with the arrival of her Tweety Bird balloon. She loved throwing it up in the air and dragging it around. Then we spent the early afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa at Oktoberfest where her every whim was indulged. She was too scared to ride the kiddie rides, but she enjoyed watching them and she really loved her ice cream cone, cookie necklace, giant pretzel, and doing "cheers" with Grandma and Grandpa.
The big celebration came in the evening, but it began with some major excitement when the Tweety balloon blew out the window!! We live on the 6th floor and I thought we'd lost it for sure. But it's a weighted balloon so it floated down to the street where a man caught it and was happy to hand it over to Daddy who had run out to rescue Tweety. Daddy, you're our hero! Then we had one of her favorite dinners: Nurnberger wursts and potato chips, followed by gifts, and birthday cake (Gianna was only interested in the sugar butterflies on top...thank goodness I included them!).
The birthday cake was quite an accomplishment. Turns out they don't sell traditional cake mixes here. So I found a cupcake mix marketed for little kids and decided to make a cake out of it. Well, this box only made 12 small cupcakes (like the size of mini muffins) so the batter didn't exactly fill the cake pan. So basically I made a thick pancake. Then my attempt at icing. I followed a recipe we had, but I guess German cream cheese is different than ours because the icing turned out really runny. So I had to take the cake picture fast before the words slid right off!
The above picture deserves an explanation. This is her new knight hat. She doesn't always like it and she got very upset when Daddy and Grandpa kept lifting up the visor to look at her. So we call this photo "The Sad Knight."
Sorry there are so many pictures. They're all so cute I just couldn't narrow it down. And here are some bonus pics of some of the more insane adult rides at Oktoberfest. I guess adult rides are like the children's playgrounds: dangerous! Those swings go like 10 stories in the air and are one of the few rides that doesn't go upside down!
And for your viewing pleasure, here are two videos. One of Gianna playing with Tweety and another enjoying her new animal keyboard.
5 comments:
You captured Gianna's 2nd birthday perfectly in your pictures and descriptions. I know we'll want some of those pictures. Miss you all.
My stomach churns just looking at those Fair rides. I had to hang up my riding hat last fall when I actually vomited into a trash can at the State Fair. Embarrassing.
The picture of Gianna with the big pretzel and grandparents with the beers is great! Frame it!
Wow, nice work on that cake. It looks professional! Happy Birthday Gianna!
Isabella of course loved the videos! We have been wanting some new videos of Gianna. Wish we could have been there for the big day, but hopefully she thinks of us when she watches Dora or Diego...though I doubt it...she is probably thinking of Dora or Diego. :)
Happy Birthday Gianna! It seems like we were just blowing out the candles on her 1st birthday cake! Gosh they grow up fast! She is precious and I love the hair!!! Miss you guys!
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