Gwangi is the Big One-Oh!

What is one of the coolest ways to celebrate your birthday? 

Live in a country that celebrates Victory in Europe Day with a pretty awesome parade...and be a boy that enjoys tanks and all things military! It's like having your birthday on Christmas each year.

The day was rather rainy and we were amazed at how many people still made it out for the parade and events. The streets, sidewalks, and all walkways were packed for blocks and blocks around the parade route.

It started with some WWII vintage vehicles. This is the T-34. It was a major Soviet tank, some say one of the best designs to come out of the war. There were many of them made.

A close up of the T-34.

The GAZ-AAA, based on a Ford Model A design, it is an original Soviet truck from the WWII era.

This is the GAZ-67B, without a hood. It was based on an American jeep design.

The boys aren't sure on this particular model. Any ideas from the peanut gallery?

There were also many other modern vehicles, some rocket launching vehicles, flyovers of helicopters, and planes today, but we couldn't get any pictures of the airplanes today....

But...the other day we did...we were out walking with our language helper, going to get another fairy tale book to use in our language lessons, and we saw several practice flyovers.

We also got to stop and see some of the dances that they were practicing.

One of the hundreds of signs hanging up around town. This was on the side of the book store we were visiting. Victory Day is a week long celebration here!

My three kiddos, so excited for Gwangi's birthday! He is now in the double digits!

Opening Sissi's gift to him, special cards and crafts galore.

She drew him a set of pictures.

Also, she crocheted for him a parachute for his Capt America doll that I made for him around New Years.

A special snowflake that she made for him.

Wahoo! A new Wii game, from the cousins.

Oh yeah, Indiana Jones!

The boys played this and said it was one of the best games ever. There is also a special bonus game on the disc, one of the original Indiana Jones games...circa '92...they said it was awesome!

We always give books...and lots of them! Several of these used to be Indy's!

And, with help from Grandma and Grandpa, we got the big Lego Super Secret Police Dropship! He was so excited!

Look at this face!

Gift from Daddy to his war game loving son, Gwangi...Custer's Final Campaign, a war game they can play together.

Both of the boys with their new birthday Wii games from their cousins...Tron and Indiana Jones. My boys and their favorite things!

We always let the kids pick their favorite meals for their birthdays. Gwangi picked French toast for breakfast, bacon cheeseburgers and fries for lunch, and deep dish pizza for dinner with a chocolate mousse cake for dessert.

And....for movie night....The Lego Movie!!! He is wearing his shirt and has his two Lego Movie Lego sets on the coffee table so he can "re-enact" his favorite scenes while watching. He has the Melting Chamber set from Christmas and the Super Secret Police Dropship from his birthday.

Dessert! he asked for a chocolate mousse cake! So, I took our favorite, local German chocolate cookies and put them in the food processor with some butter to make the crust. Then, I melted 3 chocolate bars, 2 chocolate and one chocolate with strawberry filling, added a bit of cream cheese that I had been holding on to (I bought it months ago at one of the special stores that carries "foreign foods") and some heavy cream. I poured that in the center and then put it in the freezer for 2 hours.

It was Ah-Mazing!

What a cool day with our big boy! He is growing up so quickly and becoming such an amazing helper and responsible guy. I cannot even explain how precious this boy's heart is!