Joel's 13th Birthday

Though we purchased birthday bikes for all the boys the week we arrived, we still want to make the actual day a special one for each of them.  So when in Germany, do as the Germans do, right?...and purchase a beautiful torte!

Joel turned 13 on the 15th of July, a Sunday.  I asked a few ladies where to get special pastries and cakes and was given two different places to consider.  One shop is just around the corner more or less so went there first.  I ordered breakfast from there - a strawberry torte looking thing.  Not being sure whether that would be enough, I also purchased a few items that looked like cheese cake layered with powdered sugar and white cake.  Because we told the boys that the bikes were their birthday, Joel wasn't expecting anything.  He was so excited to see a chocolate bar and a pack of gum at his spot at the breakfast table.  And was even more thrilled with special pastries, which we haven't purchased since our first morning in Germany.

We sang at breakfast b/c I didn't know if the candles would
work in the cake we would purchase later in the day.

After lunch and a nap (remember, it was a Sunday!), we all walked to Cron und Lanz, the most well-known bakery in the city.  And let me just say, I've been wanting to spend money in there since Day 1 as the displays look amazing!  It is just what you picture when you think of German tortes and chocolates.



I wanted to get one of the chocolate ones shown here, but the gal explained that
 those have rum in them which children don't tend to enjoy.  So Joel picked
one pictured in the bottom left of the window display.



Because we sang at breakfast, Joel didn't think he was going to
get a cake!  He was thrilled to pick out a fun torte - we all enjoyed it.



Joel requested fajitas for his birthday dinner - Mexican is hard to come by here.  A little jar of salsa is 3 Euros....that's about three or four spoonfuls.  Our family tends to drink salsa....by the gallon!  We quickly came up with our own recipe for salsa and make it every weekend now.  All in all, it was a fun day.

Josiah's birthday is August 13th, so we don't have long to wait
for all these special things again!