GRANDPA'S 75TH BIRTHDAY-APRIL 19, 2015

The Rojas family invited us over for dinner on
grandpa's birthday. They are members of the church. It was a fun cultural experience for all of us.

This is the Rojas' house that they built on an acre of land 30 years ago. Sister Rojas has a fun out going personality.

The family has quite a few Fritz-like dogs that took a liking to grandpa. The tall shaved one has her toe nails painted red. She is blind so they like to give her special treatment.

                                                                   A Papaya Tree                                                                   There is a lot of tropical foliage on their property.

Brother Rojas made us some snow cones.  It is tradition in Costa Rica to put powdered milk in the middle and condensed milk on top.

I had already eaten the condensed milk on top so  now it looks like a regular snow cone.

The girls in the family like to make bird houses out of milk cartons. They cover the cartons with waterproof paint.

Noah playing the Rojas' daughter's pink violin .

A big pot of delicious soup for dinner!

Belen is showing me how to hold a little black chicken.

Bella loves their dogs!

                   We are enjoying the wonderful soup. It contained big chucks of sweet potato, yucca, potato, corn, plantain  and meat. There was rice to put in it also.

It was nice to eat outside and enjoy the sound of the birds singing , cool breeze and the beautiful scenery.

DUSK

Mangos

I WATCHED BROTHER ROJAS USE HIS MACHETE TO CHOP DOWN A HUGE BUNCH OF BANANAS!

Ryan is experiencing the weight of this cluster.

There are a lot of bananas on this group. Try counting the bananas on this one side. They are hard to count but my total was 75 so with counting the other side there could be 125 to 150 bananas.  Now you know why the bunch was so heavy. Notice the one banana that ripened early and is half eaten by the birds.

Ricardo Rojas  using his machete to cut the bunch in half.

Bro. Rojas gave us half of the bunch to take home so we will have to eat lots of bananas when they ripen.

                                 Grandpa's 75th Birthday Celebration

Grandpa's 75th Birthday Celebration

Grandpa's Costa Rica Birthday Cake

Grandpa with his birthday hat and glasses

The Candles on the
Glasses Light Up

When we moved the cake some cracks appeared. It was ok because the cracks would represent the many earthquakes that occur in Costa Rica. Last week I was sitting on Noah's bed and all of a sudden the bed started moving bask and forth. It was an unsettling feeling.  Later we found out that this earthquake measured 5.1 on the Richter scale.                                                                                                              

Belle made this birthday card for grandpa.

Bella painted this tree for grandpa.

Tennyson's birthday card to grandpa.

Tennyson gave this mini surfboard to grandpa.

Noah set this site up for the notes, photos and drawings that grandpa received.

Grandpa really enjoyed reading your notes and seeing the drawings and photos. Thanks for sending them to Tennyson so we could give grandpa such a meaningful and thoughtful gift. Grandpa will cherish these notes and drawings.

Grandpa enjoying his block of blue cheese and baguette he got for his birthday.

Noah and Teej did a great job of lighting the 75 candles on Grandpa's cake. The  lighted cake looked amazing.  Here are two videos that show the lighted cake and us singing Happy Birthday to Grandpa.