The Lee Family: Happy 13th Birthday, Sofia!

Yesterday Sofia turned 13 and is now officially a TEENAGER!! How did that happen?! Honestly, it feels like she was just learning how to walk, and then just a busy toddler, and finally in elementary school and busy with school, soccer and friends. Now, she will be going into 8th grade and will soon be in high school, driving and then off to college! Hard to believe and it really is going by so quickly and will continue to fly by.

Since we are in the middle of Covid restrictions, we decided to spend the weekend with Sofia's friend Liam and his family at the lake and then celebrate as a family on her actual day. On Friday we picked up Liam and his 11-year old sister Amelia around 1:30pm and headed for the lake. On Saturday afternoon, Mikaela, Brad and Gabriel joined us at the lake and we spent the afternoon on the boat. On Friday afternoon and Saturday morning we rode the jet skis all over the lake. Liam and Amelia loved it and Amelia rode on the back of my jet ski and kept saying "This is so fun!" It was great. It was a bit rough on Friday afternoon, but we were able to go into one of the coves and enjoyed the calm waters.

On Sunday we went back out on the boat and CK taught Brad how to surf. He was actually pretty decent at it quickly too. CK also surfed with Gabriel and Amelia! I don't know how he does it but they both seemed to really enjoy it. After surfing, the kids took turns riding on the tube, which they could probably do for hours on end. Sofia rode with Liam while Amelia and Olivia had a great time riding together. Gabriel was a little less certain, so he rode a few times on his own. We had great weather all weekend and it was a great time together. Sofia did disappear into her book from time-to-time, but she said she had a great time.

Sofia started her big day with "Happy 13th Sofia" donuts which were not only adorable, but absolutely delicious! She ended up eating 4 of them, which she soon found not to be the best decision since she then felt sick! I let Sofia sleep in until 10:30am and after donuts she got dressed and we headed over to meet CK at his new office in Ft. Worth. His office is awesome and really comfortable and cozy! We are so excited for his new job and so far he is over-the-top happy! After a tour of his office and meeting his co-workers, we headed over to Lucile's Bistro for a Greek salad, cheeseburger for the birthday girl and grilled cheese for Olivia. Both girls were super full from all their donuts, but their lunches were delicious, as was our salads. While we ate our lunch, CK and I noticed a bakery - Blue Bonnet Bakery, set up in an old church across the street. We headed over and discovered a total find! Apparently the Blue Bonnet Bakery has been in business for 80 years and all of their cakes, cookies and donuts looked amazing. Sofia said "Oh, I just can't even look at the donuts!" She did pick out a round vanilla cake and we asked them to write "Happy 13th Birthday Sofia" It looked amazing! After we dropped CK off, the girls and I headed home.

On our way home, I asked Sofia what she wanted to do for her birthday and she said "Absolutely nothing!" which isn't really very different than any other day in the past few weeks. Once we got home, the girls went upstairs with Skipper to cuddle and watch Star Wars, or something similar on Disney +, which is their new favorite. For dinner, I'd asked her what she wanted for her birthday dinner and she'd said salmon, broccoli with garlic and lemon and zucchini. On Saturday night we had her other favorite - spaghetti casserole.

CK made the girls shirley temples and we enjoyed our dinner outside. It's not nearly as hot as it can be in July and we've enjoyed our meals outside for the past few weeks, which is really great. The only down side is that Olivia gets eaten up by mosquitos. After dinner, we headed back inside and got the cake ready for our birthday girl! We sang happy birthday to Sofia and she made a wish while she blew out her "13" candles. The cake was honestly one of the best we've ever eaten! It was delicious!

After cake and ice cream, we headed over to the living room where Olivia passed out the birthday gifts to Sofia. She wanted to open the gift from Olivia first, which was a Star Wars Lego set, and Sofia was super excited! She then opened presents from all of us which were books, a Harry Potter dragon Lego set, and a coloring book. CK bought her the International Space Station Lego set and she was beyond excited! She opened the card from her Grandpa and Grandma that included $100! She was so excited! Finally, she opened her last gift, which was from Aunt and Uncle - a brand new and beautiful pair of cowboy boots! They look great on her too! She had such a great and lazy birthday day and was SO excited by all of her great birthday gifts! We can't wait to see what the year brings her!

Ready to ride the jet skis!