Shae turns five

Thanks to a felicitous coincidence in the timing of my vacation, I was in Boise for Shae's fifth birthday party.  We were both delighted that I could be part of the special occasion.
 

Legos featured prominently among the gifts

An outdoor Lego pool that Barbie would have loved.
I hadn't realized the company had made such strides in marketing to little girls. 
Way to move beyond spaceships and castles, Legos!

Look at that face!
The object of such excitement:  an iPad-like device called a
LeapPad, which has cute educational games geared for
five-year-old girls.

The princess candles sparkled. They were a little scary, at first.

They also took a few puffs to blow out.

Shae's cake of choice was a vanilla and chocolate "Oreo" ice cream cake.
Naturally, I covered mine in chocolate syrup.

 

Legos, ice cream cake, princess candles.  The only thing missing?  A gun.  Oh, wait, no!  We had one of those, too:



Jordan's newest toy



Because apparently it's totally normal to show off your new handgun at your daughter's birthday party.  But then, in a world where the wedding party goes shooting before the ceremony, I guess this should not come as a surprise. 

What was really awkward is that, right as Jordan was showing me the gun, the doorbell rang.  Instead of answering the door with a fire-arm in hand, he handed the weapon to me and left me to stand my ground in the kitchen -- which I did by putting the gun in my pocket and pretending like it wasn't there.