Connor, of course, had no issues accepting his new status as a teenager and was super excited to celebrate his birthday. His first birthday request was an extra special chocolate birthday cake, one that was the recipe of my good friend Cyndi who is quite the baker. I was determined to make the cake myself despite offers of help from Cyndi. I had to visit about 5 Dubai grocery stores for the ingredients and go as far as creaming/mixing the chocolate icing by hand without a mixer. It was a 2-day labor of love that definitely paid off for my birthday boy.
Before the chocolate cake was devoured, Connor and 3 of his closest buddies were able to celebrate together with some lunch at Russo's pizza followed by the much anticipated Avengers End Game movie. It was an early release from school and they were excited for the fun afternoon together.
Kaitlynn and I just sat back in awe at the amount of food those boys were able to consume, ha!
After the movie, the boys came back to our villa for cake and ice cream. I was SO excited that the cake was just as good as Connor remembered from the time he had eaten Cyndi's version. I have to admit, it was delicious and oh-so-sinful!
For Connor's 13th birthday, Jeff and I gave him a birthday present that he had been dreaming of for YEARS -- his very first cell phone. He was the only kid we knew at his age that still didn't have his own phone. We've told him for years that he would get one when we felt the need was there, and thankfully we managed to wait until age 13. I have to admit, Connor handled the situation quite well over the years with his patience and respect for our rules. We were excited to reward him, but the only catch is that we couldn't purchase the phone right away. We planned to wait until the summer so that we could buy him a US iPhone instead of the UAE version which has some apps blocked. We were testing his patience for just a bit longer!
Connor was thrilled to find out he would finally be getting his own phone. He was also pumped about his other 13th birthday gift - finally being able to order an adult steak at his favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse. We visited the Abu Dhabi location after Kaitlynn's basketball tournament, and Connor ordered the 12 ounce ribeye. He devoured the entire thing and said he could've eaten more. He was so excited that he didn't even mind the birthday song and saddle ride, ha!
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