Ella's First

Today, 30 May, was a signal day in Mountain View. Ella turned one year old!

We had a photo shoot to record the event formally, a birthday cake - known in these parts as a smash cake, a present opening session, and a birthday dinner in that order.

Here's one of the formal photos, where Ella is sitting on a pink rug in Emily and Greg's garden. Her favourite teddy bear is behind with a large helium balloon tethered to it in the shape of the number one.

Then came the opening of quite a lot of presents, though there will no doubt be a lot more on Saturday when she entertains her little friends for a kids' party. The first picture shows Ella trying on Uncle Phillip's hat. The second shows her inspecting the offerings.

Then came the smash cake, apparently a US invention where kids are presented with a cake designed for destruction. We saw Emily make the cake a day or so and a lot of effort went into for what promised to be a messy end. The flowers on it were made from little pieces of marshmallow with an M & M at the centre, and the edifice was topped by a large number one.

Well, Ella, who was suitably attired for a likely messy event on a hot day, disappointed us considerably. She ate the flowers with great decorum, one petal at the time. So Greg had to intervene and smash the cake with his fist, after which Ella tried some of the cake and its icing.

After we tidied up the mess and dressed more formally - me in a designer T-shirt and white shorts - we headed off for a celebration meal in a San Jose restaurant. If you recall an earlier post, Max's 6th birthday was in a Sushi Bar he selected. This time Ella was hardly in a position to select a restaurant, so we did that for her. It was an Ethiopian restaurant and the choice was entirely appropriate. It did not supply cutlery and the food was eaten with our hands and wrapped in a thin pancake before entering our mouths. Ella seemed quite at home with this strategy, though much Ethiopian food is hot and Ella appropriately made a face on some occasions. Here are pictures of the food and our guest of honour:

AS