Bruce,
On Friday night, we picked up Uncle Glenn at the airport and went and had Pho at Doan’s. Mommy and Daddy are really into Pho these days. You ate several bean sprouts. You tend to eat whatever we eat, but soup is tough.
Lindsay and her friend (who has been DYING to hang out with you) showed up first, around 9. You cried when Lindsay tried to hold you, but got along just fine with Erica, a complete stranger. For the entire weekend, Erica referred to herself as your wife. Everybody loves you, son. You’re just so sweet and funny and charming. At one point, I walked into your room and you were sitting in the Lay-Z-Boy with Erica. Just sitting there. Cool as a cucumber. I was jealous, because it seems like I always have to wrangle you to sit quietly with me.
Gran, Grandpa and Uncle Haley got in next. I am not sure when, maybe 10:30? Grandpa was hungry. Daddy, Good Glenn and Uncle Haley ran to Wendy’s and Taco Bell. They were all eating at our awesome new dining room table when Great Aunt Debby, Courtney, Kelly and Desteny arrived around midnight.
We didn’t hang out for very long. It was late, so we set up the beds and went to sleep. I feel like we put in a movie, but I don’t remember what it was. Uncle Glenn slept in the airplane room, Gran and Grandpa slept in the guest room downstairs. Debby, Kelly, Courtney and Desteny slept in the family room and Lindsay, Erica, and Uncle Haley slept in front of the tv in the Bonus Room.
On Saturday we woke up fairly early. Daddy went and picked up your balloons. We set out food. We ordered 7 Pizza Hut pizzas for lunch. We had 3 cheese, 2 thin crust pepperoni, 1 supreme and 1 veggie. That accompanied pretzels, corn dogs, a veggie platter, chips, salsa, cheese, hummus, pesto dip, popcorn, cotton candy, circus peanuts, colorful lollipops direct from Walt Disney World, animal crackers, caramel apples, peanuts and M&Ms. It was quite a spread.
One of the real hits of the party was a mini-fridge that we decorated to match our Storybook Circus theme. Daddy brought home from work over a year ago. The sides are covered with big NOS decals, so Mommy’s cousin Kelly and Desteny cut out white stars and glued them to red poster board, then we taped that to the side of the fridge to cover the NOS. We also removed the backlit NOS title piece on the front and replaced it with a much cuter logo. It was awesome!
Great, Great Aunt Sara Beth and Joyce came around 1. Chris Mason from Daddy’s work brought his family. Matt and Kim Cavanaugh, Daddy’s high school friends, came. At about 1 o’clock, Grandpa and Uncle Glenn went to the airport to get Daddy’s cousin, Phillip. The biggest and most awesome surprise was that Mommy’s cousin Erika and your Great Great Aunt Jean drove all the way from Maryland! That’s an 8 hour trip!
You got SOOOOO many presents! Everybody loves you so much.
I bought your shorts on Etsy. They were custom made. Although I ordered a size 12 months, I’m sure they’ll fit you well into your preschool days. I asked the lady to send a scrap of fabric so that I could make you a bow-tie. It all came together beautifully. You wore a ring master’s top hat as well.
Mommy missed Uncle Haley’s birthday last week, so we gave her lots of presents as well. You needed help opening your presents, but had no problem helping Uncle Haley unwrap hers.
Mommy wanted beautiful portraits of you smashing cake all over your face. Unfortunately, you were only interested in picking the sprinkles off one by one.
On Saturday night, Daddy took Uncle Glenn and Phillip to Uptown Charlotte to walk around, then they went to Mac’s Speedshop for the best bbq in town. Meanwhile, Gran, Grandpa, Mommy, Auntie Cray Kaye, Erica, and Uncle Haley stayed home with you and had Barnaby’s pizza (from our February trip to Chicago) for dinner. We played Whonu for hours. Your grandpa got really into it.
Sunday was a lazy day, but that’s okay because we were all together. We did a lot of lounging around. Mommy and Uncle Haley played Disney Infinity on the Wii. Daddy did wushu with Uncle Glenn and Phillip. Lindsay and Erica left pretty early, but Mommy and Gran caught up with them at WalMart. We had dinner at Nothing But Noodles before Gran, Grandpa and Uncle Haley left for Charlottesville.
On Monday, Daddy took Phillip to the airport, then Daddy, Uncle Glenn and Mommy took you to Killington’s in Huntersville. We stopped by Joe Gibbs racing on the way to the airport to pick up “Ahnay.” The Las arrived at about 8, and we went and had Pho and Doan’s again. “Ahdah” drove Jerry’s parents and Tony’s parents down from Maryland. Uncle Saule and Aunt T came in on Tuesday. Oh, Tuesday…
We started at Dim Sum. We had picked Wan Fu for your birthday dinner, but Ahdah wanted to go to a place that served Dim Sum because they’re more Cantonese. We made a reservation for Dim Sum on Tuesday night. Ahdah also wanted Dim Sum for brunch, so we went there after your Great Uncle Larry got in from BWI. You were super tired after brunch, so Mommy and Uncle Glenn took you home for a nap while Daddy showed your Great Aunts and Uncles around. They went to the Charlotte Motor Speedway, then Joe Gibbs racing. Jerry’s dad got hungry, so Daddy took them to Vietnam Grille where they got all buddy-buddy with the owner. Throughout Daddy’s Charlotte Adventure, he was texting Mommy a changing agenda. They decided not to go to Dim Sum for dinner. First they were thinking Tin Tin Buffet, then finally they got around to Wan Fu, Mommy’s first and original choice.
Before dinner, we took lots of pictures at home with lucky money, or lai see. We ate in the private back room at Wan Fu. It was nice. You ate long noodles for your birthday for a long life. We had a whole fish, Mongolian beef, pineapple fried rice, shrimp and other good stuff. Mommy say between you and Uncle Glenn. At dinner, somebody said that it was good, but not as good as Mei Wah. Ahdah said that’s because he makes the food at Mei Wah too good!
We came after dinner and had cake at our house and you got more lai see. You cut the cake with Ahdah. It was pretty cute. Actually, Tuesday morning Ahdah held you for what I think was the first time. He seemed pretty comfortable picking you up and playing with you. He did it a couple of times throughout the day. Uncle Larry kept saying that you were “such a friendly guy!” You get along well with almost everyone that you meet. All your great aunts took turns holding you. They all thought Jasmine was so good, too. She didn’t bark unless we asked her to, and was very sweet to everyone. I was impressed that they were impressed.
Well, that’s it. Wow. A whole year. I can’t believe it. We wanted you so bad for so long, and now, here you are. Alive and well. Alive and, well, pretty awesome if I do say so myself.
I love you, little baby boy. Don’t grow up too fast.
Mommy
That La Kid 
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