Happy Birthday Daniel!

Today, I'm the mother of a fifteen-year-old.  Where did the last fifteen years go?!?  (Just kidding!)  Seriously, though...for whatever reason, it didn't feel too odd to me to be the mother of a young teenager, but fifteen feels old.  However, he is still our own dear Daniel, growing up on his own timetable, and it is a good feeling to be marking all our family's important occasions together with him for the second time.  Last year at this time we celebrated in China by going out to Karaoke, eating at Pizza Hut (Daniel's first time eating pizza; he was a fan from the start), and eating a not-too-sweet Chinese bakery cake in our hotel room.

This year, Daniel's activity of choice was (drum-roll, please)...going to IKEA!  He had been asking recently about home-decorating stores, and I had told him about IKEA, and he really wanted to check it out.  We don't have one anywhere near us, but there is one near my parents, so it was the perfect opportunity.  My dad, brother, Tim, Daniel and I all went. Daniel skipped a few sections entirely, but examined every bedroom display that they had.  He also liked the comforter section downstairs.

We also managed to find him an Asian-style cake.  When we picked it up, he told me, "I want to have my birthday here every year!"  (Our small city does not sell anything remotely resembling an Asian cake.)  So for dessert tonight, we had non-sweet (but actually pretty good) cake, watermelon, and Neapolitan ice cream (another Daniel favorite).  Daniel was a happy boy.  :-)  He didn't get much in the way of presents, since he has already gotten his present from us (a new mattress) and his presents from Tim's side of the family are waiting for when we visit them.  But he was quite pleased with cash from great-grandma and a projection clock (complete with white noise maker and radio) from my parents.

We have some pictures, but I'm too tired to post them right now.  Maybe tomorrow.