Ben’s Birthday

Yesterday was a long eventful day. It started at 5.30 in the morning. We all got up and the boys got ready to go get some abalone. Slow start, it took a while for Ben to wake up as he is not an early bird... he takes that from me! They left around 6.20. Eva and I waved good bye and started on the birthday cake, blowing the balloons, decorating the bus and making breakfast. They came back 2 ½ hours later, Ben had got his limit again, three nice abalones. Great start for this special day. After breakfast Ben’s godmother, Natacha, called from Switzerland and he got to open her presents while talking to her (yes, even before he blew his candles!). She had given me his presents while we were there last March, that’s some good planning on her part!

After lunch we headed to Ricochet Ridge ranch for a ride on the beach. On the way there we took advantage of cell service to call Grandma who for the very first time was not with Ben on his birthday. She was even there, in Guam, when he was born! We missed her and Grandpa but we took them along in our hearts.
Ben had been dreaming to go horseback ridding for a long time. What really interested him was to be able to guide his horse himself. I was a little worried because sometimes on those rides the horses will not respond to any commands but just follow the horse in front of them. But, what a treat... we got an awesome ride along the beach, saw some seals close-up and on top of that the horses were very responsive so Ben got to practice turning, stopping, pulling his horse away from good grass and even trotting. He had a smile on bigger than his face. Eva was ridding a cute pony and had a wonderful time too. They are already talking about having a horse when we settle down somewhere. Well, they’ve had that wish for a long time but this trip reinforced the idea a whole lot!

After that we moved the party to the beach for cake and presents. We finished the day with nice meal... Bill made some abrellanos for diner which is Ben’s favorite abalone recipe. It was delicious! We topped that with an episode of the little house in the prairie. It was a wonderful day filled with memorable and precious family time.

Now my boy is 8! Even if Grandma is set on him being 6 forever:)

Sylviane