Birthday-Palooza

Birthday-Palooza is what happens when husband and wife celebrate their birthdays two days in a row. Since Chris' birthday was on Sunday, most of our celebrating was done on my birthday, which was Saturday.

The day began wonderfully as we were able to talk to family on Skype and then read a post dedicated to us. We went to an Iranian place for lunch and then stopped at this place with my name on it (which we've seen for months on end but never checked out) and took a picture. In case you wondered, it's a medical center (We aren't sure why a medical center is named after a woman... our bets would've been on a cafe, jewelry shop, or something of that kind).

(HELLO Powder! Although I do actually have a few light "tan" lines, I apparently still glow in the daytime!)

We went to one of the nice grocery stores in the city looking for a specific kind of chocolate mousse souffle we discovered a few months ago. Unfortunately, it had been made--and sold out--the day before, so we shared one of these:
We walked along the streets of Almaty and noticed things like the five pigeons hanging out in someone's open window--with a sixth on the ledge.
We stopped at TsUM for a few pieces of locally made jewelry I'd had my eyes on, picked up tickets for the "Puss in Boots" puppet show that's in town, and then returned for a quiet dinner and night at home.

The next day after church, I delighted Chris with a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough made (and then frozen) when he was at his Friday night meeting, and then we enjoyed a quiet and relaxing evening at home, receiving birthday wishes and Skype calls from family.

Although not one of our birthday days, on Monday afternoon we went to the "Puss In Boots" puppet show! Our camera was left at home, so these pictures are from Chris' phone.

This is the puppet stage before the show started:
A man and woman puppet with a donkey puppet. On the left is a stone water pump that poured real water!
It's difficult to see, but the black mass is the cat and all the gray masses along the bottom of the "stage" are mice!
One of the cool things about the stage was that it was round and could show motion. During a journey through a few different areas, the outside part (where the trees are) moved and changed...
Into a bridge! There are a few scenes missing, during which the puppets acquired the horses seen below.
There was a scene with a giant, which was pretty cool in and of itself, but he held up a magic cloth three times and turned himself into a lion, and then turned himself into a mouse. It was really neat to see the transition on the stage.
The puppets dancing in couples... It's hard to show, but it was really neat.
The puppets take their bow!
Addie was amazing! She wasn't amused the whole time, but she did really well at sitting through the performance with the aid of crackers, water, the show itself, and the toys of the little girls sitting next to us. We were delighted that she lasted the whole hour!

A few days later I managed to make it back to the grocery store to inquire after that chocolate mousse souffle, and left with two:

During the last two years, our time together on our birthdays has been brief. Two years ago, Chris was working exhausting hours and I was preparing for our wedding, and then last year we were apart as Chris worked in Maryland and I stayed behind recovering and taking care of Addie. It has been nice to reflect on our past birthdays as we celebrated this year. While we were able to do much more this year than before, the best part of our birthdays wasn't anything we did, it was that we were actually able to spend them together.