Turning 15

    Cody turned 15 Monday.  15.  It was a happy occasion...and we pretty much began our celebration Thursday, meeting Andrea at the Pima County Fair around 3ish.  Andrea let me know that admission was free with two cans of food.  Check.  And, she said, bring a bottle of Dr. Pepper and you'll get $5 off the all you can ride wristband...got it!  And as some kind of bizarre bonus, Cody Simpson was going to be in concert and the girls were dying to see him (think Justin Bieber clone)!!! 
    
    We got there so early, thinking the fair would be mobbed.  Our strategy was to hit the rides early and often - letting Cody, Andrea's son, David, his buddy Cameron and Janene's son, Brendon, loose to ride the 'big rides', while we took the little ones on every fun house from here to eternity, slides, and other assorted kiddie rides (but we failed to see the two headed squirrel or get inside the giant bubbles on water!).  Then, we'd feed the kids, see the concert and get out of there by around 9:30.  It was Thursday.  A school night, so we wanted to be home by a reasonable hour...

 

By 5ish, we realized the kids had already hit about 30 rides each...and figured the crowds would be coming.  But we didn't care, because the kids were totally enjoying themselves and had gone on almost every ride they could!  So, we told them to keep going and we'd eat around 7:30 or so, before the 8:00 start of the Cody Simpson concert.

We headed over to the main stage by 7:30, got the kids roasted corn, corn dogs and we got the Indian fry bread tacos and found a table nearest to the stage.  After eating, Lexy, Autumn and Breanna made their way towards the stage as the show began!

                         It was the girls first concert and they were thrilled!!  They got pretty close and really like the dancing, singing, screaming and light show that Cody Simpson put on!!!
                        After the show, we discovered that the rides still had no lines and decided to stay until 10...David, Brendon and Cody quickly talked us into 11...and then, the curse of the 'smart phone' hit!  All of our phone's batteries died one by one...except Andrea's, who has stuck by the flip phone with no apps or internet!  Lacking communication, Andrea asked the boys to meet us at the ticket booth by 11:00...But, in today's world, without a phone, the boys concept of time was lost and we ended up closing the fair!!  We got large funnel cakes as we exited, covered with chocolate and some fresh made donuts too!  Luckily, the kids had just finished a week of AIMS testing and had pajama day at school the next day...And the late night was well worth it!  We lost count of how many rides our kids got to go on!  Cody's favorite rides were the Zipper and Speed, I didn't see him most of the night, so I go no pictures of him and the boys to post, but...it was an incredible night!

                        What Cody had wanted for a party, was to take David, Brendon and buddy Jesus to play laser tag at Funtasticks.  So, Friday, we picked up Cody and Jesus from school, drove to Janene's and picked up Brendon and then watched the end of David's basketball game and picked him and Breanna up from Andrea.  Hungry, we headed to Shane's Rib Shack, where the boys devoured an amazing amount of wings!

                           Once I got everyone their wristbands, the boys headed straight for the Indy cars, while I took the little ones on the rides!

Breanna was a fearless driver!!  Autumn took first!

  

These kids were drenched on the bumper boats!  They'd ride them, go on the mini Indy cars to dry off and go back on the bumper boats.  Once again, there were no lines, no waiting, so they all got their money's worth.  They all played a rousing game of laser tag and the big boys played mini golf, too.

The boys slept over at our house and they played XBox until the wee hours of the morning... I let them sleep a couple of hours, waking them up to go to Brawley's, our favorite hole in the wall, for breakfast!

One of Cody's 7th grade teachers was kind enough to give us passes to the Tucson Botanical Gardens, where they had a butterfly exhibit going on.

The butterflies were incredible!!

Sunday, after church, we had an enormous breakfast at Viro's with Andrea, Janene, Lupe, Manny and their kids...

Rosa and Vito made these special gelato filled treats for Cody's birthday.

And then it was Monday...My boy young man's actual birthday!!  Autumn and Antonio helped me to decorate.  Putting up banners, hanging streamers and balloons...just as Kim did for all of us.  I baked him his favorite 'cake'...brownies!

And it was a special day...

Janene snagged Cody from school early, around 1 and took him, Brendon and her son's Bryson and Kason back out to the fair!!  He was so happy and surprised - I left him a note for the office saying that his 'Aunt Janene' was picking him up for an 'appointment'!!  They had fun going on the rides and then met us all (Angie, Andrea, Janene, Kim, Roshan and kids) at Mama's pizza for dinner and brownies!!

Cody enjoyed the company and the food - his favorite pizza!!

When we got home, Cody asked me if I'd give him a haircut...which I'd usually leave for Janene!  But, Kim used to cut the boy's hair and Janene had given me some lessons...so...

Doing my best Zohan...

As I monkeyed around for the camera, the guard fell off the blade and I literally buzzed Tonio's head!! It happened in slow mo...I saw the guard falling, as I touched down with the clipper...but, I was able to save the hair do by going to a lower guard setting.  Both boys actually loved their new haircuts!!

It was a fun filled birthday celebration!!!

Thank you all for your birthday wishes for Cody!!!