My son had his 14th birthday, last Wednesday, the 14th!  Hoping to give him a memorable birthday, we took him to Colonial Williamsburg for Prelude to Victory where there were lots of Continental Soldiers, artillery, and horses.  Then Lafayette gave him some words of commendation which made him feel special. What could get better than that?  Well, nothing, right? For birthdays we traditionally take the day off from schoolwork to play games and go out to dinner.  We planned on a quiet, simple, laid back day, after a weekend full of excitement.  Something happened Tuesday to change all that!

     Late Tuesday afternoon I got an e-mail from one of the producers of the Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trip!  She said she had been reading my blog about how my kids enjoy the EFT and do various activities with them.  She was wondering if we could help them out with something.  This year they were going to do something new, sort of like a virtual show and tell, using Skype and webcams.  They had a school lined up for each of the broadcasts, one for the morning and one for the afternoon. However, the school slated for the morning slot had to cancel. Could my kids fill in?   Can you imagine our surprise?  I will give the details for our experience in my next blog entry about the EFT.

     Instead of a laidback birthday, we were incredibly busy!  Since my son had his braces tightened the day before, he had an exceedingly sore mouth.  I asked my son what he'd like for breakfast and he wanted a poached egg. This breakfast developed into Eggs Benedict with my son helping me cook!

     Then the producer called to give me some information and arrange a time for rehearsal, at 2pm. I ran out to fax a release form for the kids to go on air with CW.  Then I went to the grocery store for soft food for my son's lunch and confectioner's sugar for the cake. When I got back home, he helped me make the Texas Sheet Cake, which we think is the best fudgy chocolate cake in the world!  We even played a few games inbetween all the activity.  In between all this, my kids rehearsed their skit for the EFT. 

    Finally 2pm arrived and CW called us on Skype for rehearsal. We had a glitch that we eventually figured out and the kids got to do their parts. They had a blast!  It was a lot of fun to see and hear a lot of stuff behind the scenes.  When my husband came home from work, that is all they could talk  about. Here's a picture taken after rehearsal, with them acting as if they were rehearsing. I didn't want to distract them or have the flash ruin the quality of the picture during the rehearsal.

      We played a game and then left for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. We've not been able to find a terrific Mexican restaurant in Virginia, but the one we ate at for his birthday is pretty good. My husband told them it was my son's birthday.  After we ate dinner, the wait staff came out with a plate of sopapillas and a sombrero, which they put on his head while they sang. Then they left him wearing it while he ate his dessert! We were laughing!  As much as we do costumes, we've never worn a sombrero despite all the years we've lived in San Antonio, Texas. It took moving to Virginia to finally wear a sombrero. My son decided it was a bit cumbersome.  I was bemoaning the camera I left at home, so my husband took a picture of my son with his camera phone.  Then he tried e-mailing it to me, which we never do to save money.  Oops! It ended up in my cell phone.  What was I supposed to do with it there? He's the techie of the family.  However I sat there and figured out how to e-mail it to my computer so I could put it in my blog.   Now I'm wondering how much this picture cost us!

     On the way home, the kids rehearsed their skit for the EFT.  I thought they did pretty good, practicing without any lines in front of them.  Once we got home, my son opened his gifts. One is a colonial type of baseball game from CW we had purchased at the auction, which guarantees a sale price. My son pulled the parts out and there was no ball. I told my son when we go back to CW, I'll buy him a ball for it.  He also finally got his colonial compass, which he's been designing an engraving for.   Then we had cake and ice cream.  The ice cream wasn't too bad. We really miss Blue Bell Ice Cream from Texas.

    All in all, my son had a most memorable birthday.  He was hoping to do something unique for his birthday. Never did we imagine he'd be spending it rehearsing to go on the air with CW EFT.  Stay tuned for how that went!