🥳 Happy (Belated) Birthday, Makena! 🥳
Sunday (August 25th) was Makena’s birthday! It was insanely hot in the daytime, so we went out for Chocolate Shoppe ice cream 🍨 once the sun set and it was a little cooler (it was still 80° F even then!). I gave her her present (a pair of rhinestone butterfly 🦋✨ earrings), and then we went home for cake 🍰 and a movie 🎞️ with Evette and Maritza — it was between The Devil Wears Prada and Cruella, and after watching trailers for both Makena decided on Cruella; despite the poor reviews, it’s a really fun film, but I ended up being too tired to finish it that night, and yesterday I had a doctor’s appointment plus a mini-crisis at home (long story), so we’re finishing it later today.
“What kind of ice cream do you like?” Marley asked.
“Chocolate!” Makena responded immediately. “Everyone thinks it’s boring, but it’s my favorite!”
“Okay, so this place has the most chocolate-y chocolate EVER.”
“Oh, wow! I’ve gotta try that!”
They both got Zanzibar Chocolate (though Marley also sampled a Black Licorice flavor, which was delicious).
“Okay, yeah, that IS the most chocolate-y chocolate ever,” Makena said after her first rich, decadent spoonful. “What about you? What’s your favorite?”
“Blue Moon!” Marley said eagerly.
“I think I’ve heard of it… what is it?”
“The best ice cream flavor in the world, that’s what!”
“That’s… descriptive,” Makena said, laughing a little.
“Well, we’ll just have to come back sometime so you can try it!”
(I made that doll-sized ice cream tub out of some printouts glued to an old medicine dosage cup! I wish I’d gotten a better photo of it before throwing it away, I thought it turned out really well.)
Makena tore off the sparkling purple gift wrap to reveal a jewelry box. She opened the lid and saw the silver rhinestone butterflies gleaming against the black velvet backing. “These are awesome, thank you so much!” she said.
“Happy Birthday!” Marley returned with a grin, then snapped a photo of Makena showing off her new earrings.
“This movie didn’t do very well,” Marley told the girls before starting it, “because I think a lot of people didn’t get it.”
They watched in companionable silence for a while, then Makena commented, “It’s a good movie, but… does Cruella de Vil really need a sympathetic backstory?”
“This is actually an alternate universe to the animated film. It’ll become clearer later on,” Marley responded.
“Oh! Okay, that makes more sense,” Makena said, then suddenly, “Ouch!” She whirled to see Spork pawing at her braids. “Hey, quit it!” (The cat did, reluctantly.)
