Happy Birthday celebrations

no.2.son enjoying fresh fruit salad

 Yesterday we celebrated our no.2.son's 16th birthday with a bbq in the garden and family, we hoped for good weather and weren't let down!  The year he was born was one of the hottest days on record and the then "new" maternity unit had been upgraded to include air-con and it was needed then - if dh's memory is correct, he was born around 1pm.

no.2.brother enjoying the sunshine

what? no money!

 You have to start the day with cards and gifts no matter what age! We are "lucky" in that our lads are not the demanding sort looking for expensive gifts or the latest must-have but it turns against us on occasions like a birthday!  What to buy for someone who at 16 already insists he doesn't "want" anything! well. clearly not "nothing - then?" that won't do!  We settled instead for usual useful gifts of clothes and have agreed he can have (another) new mobile of his choosing!

what we got here? then

toothbrush! just what I wanted!

 ok! I admit its not very exciting! but he needed a replacement head for his toothbrush and this model is now discontinued and a less than half price offer at Chemist meant a new brush was not that much dearer than a replacement set of heads would cost - practical? I know BUT when I mentioned to no.1.son that I'd got his brother a new toothbrush HE went in a huff and said HE wanted one! too! whats WITH our "children"? WHY are they not huffing and screeching about Xboxes and laptops? a TOOTHBRUSH! .. shakes head ..

 Another thing we resolved to do this year was use the BBQ more!  We generally make our own burgers and do the usual sausages and (unpopular) salad stuff looking miserable and wilting in a dish but THIS time we resolved to more challenging recipes including FISH and a "warm" veg.salad.

After several days of searching we eventually found some we all liked and I have to say that they went down very well and we would certainly look to cook these again.

waiting for food!

the weather was glorious!

dh - happy to hear no.2.brother is driving, not drinking!

dh at the BBQ

 We flung on the bbq: pork ribs, popular with everyone even I enjoyed this one and well worth the length of cooking time and all the different processes of glazing.  chicken for us, and cheese stuffed and bacon wrapped chicken for no.2.son who doesn't like spicy food.  fish too was on offer, a mix of fresh tuna and salmon and - finally - a potato salad with added asparagus.  slight dodgy moment when one of the family mistook the black olives for grapes and got a mouthful I mean a surprise when he discovered what they WERE! ha!

relaxing over a pint

and a glass of wine!

Happy birthday - cheers!

celebrate with family

getting stuck in!

food was delicious

fresh fruit salad

no.1.son enjoying icecream

We finished with the obligatory "chocolate" cake which I've not photographed because its basically the same cake we do all the time!
this time we added some small "fudge" pieces to the "chocolte, fudge filling" but it hardly counts as "different" cake!  We didn't have room spare for the cake during the celebration, so my stepfather and brother went home with it wrapped in clingfilm and kitchen roll like a "goodie bag" you used to angst over as mum of toddler hosting birthday party and expected to come up with original ideas more sparkling than a couple of chews, mini size tub of sweets and a 10p lolly and some "toy" from toysRus in a pack of 500 for £1 ..?
FRESH fruit salad with a good icecream went down well and is always popular - I looked to enhance ours last min, but discovered about the only alcohol I had in the house apart from beer, wine and gin was the sets of minatures of JBean and Baileys! in the end I settled for lemon juice and caster sugar!

The WEATHER was fabulous and the whole day extended to the evening and no.2.son and I rounded it off by eating half of box of maltesers, a cup of tea and watching a Harry Potter film!!  Shortly we will go as a family to watch the current HP film - like others have said, we've "grown up" with HP and both no.2.son and I are currently rereading the series of books - I'm about to start 2nd book and he is half way through the 4th ..
Slight disappointment was that we'd hoped my brother's former gf would arrive as her parents are local and she'd promised to pop by on her way home - however she had NEWS .. her sister (whom we only know slightly, but who is a good friend to my brother) had been rushed into the local Hospital and was safely delivered a beautiful baby daughter! her first baby and the first "grandchild" in their family and makes our friend a proud "auntie"!  even BETTER news, she confirms her sister IS very much a "pink and girly" flavour and WOULD welcome anything IN pink and with frills! hurrah! at LAST! I can gorge on the fluffiness of something frothy and PINK in tiny sizes and softest baby-yarns!
So its congratulations all round this weekend!  and with my birthday shortly - this year will be by 50th! - say it QUICK and I hardly notice! gulp! the celebrations will continue throughout the summer a little longer ..