So she’s 10.

I will admit here that this birthday was not what any of us had planned. We all thought that we would be having a great time skiing with family on a mountain, but nope, we were on day 6 of being cooped up in our condo because of her bad knee. A nice condo to be sure, but cooped up nonetheless. Try as I might to make it a super day, I swear I did, it was still not the day my kid was expecting.

We started out the day with waffles. The toaster kind. Last year on her birthday we hadn’t been able to find them in the grocery store in Wanaka. And yes, I love making everything from scratch, but not in a caravan. This year I did get a complaint from my nephew that the toaster waffles were not as good as homemade, but mate, there is only so much a mother can be. I figure after they added the whip cream, chocolate sauce, maple syrup and sprinkles they wouldn’t be able to taste much of the waffle anyway. In full disclosure this picture is of the cousins eating their waffles the day after her birthday. I was suckered into allowing another morning of gluttony.

After breakfast Lana and I were left alone. I know, I know, it was her birthday, but after seeing Disney channel in the background for 5 days I was losing my mind. Then add to the fact that my kid who seemed to be on the mend two days before was all of a sudden limping again. It was a bit frustrating for us all. We were questioning our decision not to get an MRI. There were some tears and arguing, but rather than go to the doctor at lunch time (plan C) we went with our birthday plan B which was to try to meet the family on top on the mountain for lunch. Usually this involves nothing more timing things, but today we had to try to negotiate getting a kid with an injury but a season pass (can ride every day at no additional cost) and a mother with no injury, but no skis on either and no season pass and not willing to pay my albeit reduced daily rate to ride the lift.

Well aren’t we lucky that the ski lift attendant was a kind soul who also happened to be a Capricorn and let us on the lift. See no skis, just her mother’s nice boots.

We rode to the top where we met our entire family and my sister-in-law’s neighbors who they happened to bump into the day before in the lift line. No joke. Lunch was okay, but the view was spectacular.

Happy Birthday Lana Banana!