A birthday spent on the beach

This week we had the fantastic opportunity to celebrate Tom's birthday (January 3rd) and celebrate we did! We started the day off by sleeping in (Tom's first birthday wish)...after a week of early wake up calls prompted by the sun filtering through the tent, the sleeping in was appreciated all around. Once up, we spent the bulk of the morning relaxing, hanging out and enjoying breakfast and coffee. That afternoon, we granted Tom's second wish - a trip to the beach. We spent a bit more time in the car, but ended up at an "Ocean Park-esque" beach. There were mud flats for miles at low tide, beautiful sand and water that was warm in the way a bath is warm when you're finished with it and ready to get out of the tub.

This is one of my most favorite trees in New Zealand, they are everywhere and I have affectionately nicknamed them "pineapple trees". This one is especially "pineapple-y"

At home, we were treated to beef bulgolgi that Mark had left marinating all day. Supper was delicious, and Tom even said it was comparable to the authentic stuff he has had in Korea. As it was Tom's birthday, desert had to be cake. I spent the better part of the night before, and the morning of Tom's birthday piecing together my very first homemade ice cream cake. Tom and I picked out the ingredients the night before: chocolate ice cream, fudge and oreo filling and chocolate sprinkles to decorate. Sense a theme?

Clearly, we don't keep birthday candles on hand in the new place so we improvised with a vanilla votive and had Tom blow out the candle and make a wish 

 A slice of the deliciousness (although starting to melt)

                                                      Tom with his slice of birthday cake