Sweet 16

My daughter's 16th birthday is coming up. The years fly way too quickly. She is growing up into a a beautiful young woman. What she really wanted this year was to spend her time with two friends that live far away. She has spent Sukkot with them for the last three years and they have become great friends.

So, Jim and I decided to get airline tickets for her friends (we are very thankful for frequent flyer miles) so they could spend time together. Both girls arrived on Friday. One left yesterday and one is leaving tomorrow.

What a great time they have had. We had Jessikah's birthday dinner on Friday. It was really a distraction for her friends, so they wouldn't know that we had bigger and better plans for Sunday evening. And it was also a chance for us to sing happy birthday to her.

Saturday, we went to congregation, as usual. That was a special day because there were 5 young people baptized that afternoon. Then, while Jim and I went to a wedding, the big kids went to the Harvest Crusade. While we were all out having a good time, my wonderful Rebekah babysat for us. What a blessing she is to us.

Sunday's big activity, besides the teenage girls taking the teenage boy out shopping for some trendy clothes, was a limousine. Jessikah and her friends and two adults (one that acts like a kid and one that almost acts like an adult) went out for a limousine ride. They drove down to the beach.

They got take out for dinner from Ruby's on the pier. The people on the pier made all kinds of comments about them. People couldn't figure out what they were doing since they got out of a limousine and they were such an eclectic bunch :)

The next day we went to the beach. After all, you can't visit Southern California in the summer and not go to the beach!

That night they went to the Irvine Spectrum. Yesterday, they went to the mall again. Then we had to deliver Brandy to the airport and say good-by. Today Jessikah and Hannah are working on making an Anime video. Then, tomorrow we say good-by to Hannah. I'm thinking this will be a very memorable 16th birthday celebration for Jessikah. And the whole family got to join in the fun at one point or other.