Kathleen Turns Six (about a month ago)

This year Kathleen's sixth birthday fell on the day we flew back to Baku.  When she asked what she was going to do for her birthday this year, I told her that she was going to do her favorite thing in the entire world - fly on an airplane!  Surprisingly, she was rather non-plussed.  "But I don't want to fly on an airplane for my birthday!  I want to do something fun!" she pouted.

The week before her birthday we were at the beach, which isn't the best place to celebrate your birthday.  Nobody cares that much because they're busy playing in the water, and this year her grandparents are in Bogota, serving a two year LDS mission.  Cousins like birthdays for the cake, but they don't bring presents like Grandma and Grandpa do.

So instead we celebrated her birthday in Missouri.

We started the day with a trip to Fantastic Caverns, America's only drive-through cave.  We considered the zoo and horseback riding (don't tell Kathleen about the riding), but the 100+ degree heat was somewhat of a deterrent.  And since the cave is sixty degrees year-round, it seemed like a good option.

Kathleen found it very exciting, Sophia wanted to make sure that we couldn't be crushed, and Edwin didn't comment.  I was glad that children under six were free and Brandon made sure nobody jumped out of the vehicle into a twenty-foot sinkhole.

For dinner that evening we had Kathleen's favorite, black beans and rice.  After dinner both sets of her great-granparents came for cake and presents.

She received plenty of presents, but her favorite was a rider and tack that fit her play horses.  All of the others got thrown by the wayside in favorite of the ten-dollar plastic rider.  Sometimes I think that children should just get one present for their birthday, as they only care about one present anyway.

Brandon's brother Nick had bought up leftover fireworks after the Fourth of July, so following the party we had fireworks, something the children had never seen before in their lives.  I suppose that's what happens when you live overseas, not in China.  

Kathleen declared it 'the best birthday EVER!!'  

Sometimes it seems like an eternity since she joined our family, and other times it feels like only last week she showed up.  All of the time, however, has been great.